Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound
by meowthecat
Summary: Game AU, ensemble cast. A risky raid on a GUN convoy yields a surprise for Sonic and his friends.
1. Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound

"Sigma Alpha 2, heading due south over the city. We're en route, everything's a go."

A GUN Armed Forces helicopter whisked over the alliance's capital city, headed towards the large air base only a few miles from its current position.

"This is control tower; we have you on radar. Report cargo status of captured hedgehog aboard, over."

"That's a ten-four. Cargo secured on board and… What?"

"Didn't copy that, over!"

"He's gone! He's taken out everyone aboard and…"

Suddenly, a blue hedgehog burst out of the 'copter- he grabbed hold of the wing, swung on top, and quickly tore a piece of the plating off. This piece seemed to resemble a snowboard—which was exactly how the anthromorph intended to use it.

A human soldier leaned out of the newly busted door and trained a gun on the hedgehog. "Freeze! What do you think you're doing?"

The hedgehog ignored the man as he precariously balanced his makeshift board on the edge of the wing. The male human yelled orders at his recovering companions. "Get that hedgehog!"

"Talk about low-budget flights!" the hedgehog cut in before the soldier could issue any more commands. "No food or movies? I'm outta here!"

He cocked his head to avoid a whizzing bullet and grinned with a spark in his green eyes. "I like running better."

With that, the blue hedgehog leaped off the plane, improvised board in hand. Performing tricks to dodge the sudden volley of bullets, he grew exhilarated. This was what he _loved_.

Falling toward the capital of the GUN, Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't help but let out a "Yeeaaahhh!"

ooo

Original series concepts by Naoto Oshima and Yuji Naka

ooo

Capital City, the center of GUN authority, was nestled in a hilly harbor, and sloped downward to the bay. It would make for great snowboarding territory… if it actually snowed there. But, Sonic figured, the inclines were steep enough that _any_ board could reach a pretty decent speed going to the bay—a perfect opportunity for escape.

ooo

Original games developed by SEGA

ooo

A small figure dressed inconspicuously in typical winter clothing slipped into the under-construction (and therefore empty) park. Quickly hurdling a fence, the figure plunged down a sheer drop to the ground and somersaulted into a ball on impact, rolling quickly to the other side of the path. Its tiny ear communicator pried in on the local military frequencies and faintly proclaimed: "Attention all units: suspect seen heading south…"

The mysterious figure turned it off once they figured out that Sonic was heading towards their position. It was exchanged for a pair of headphones while the figure flipped through their music player deciding what song to listen to.

They settled on a song that seemed fitting, given their situation: _Escape from the City_. From the first strums of the guitar, they knew the blue hedgehog would appreciate it.

ooo

meowthecat presents

ooo

The board screeched and sparked as Sonic rode down the street and took out a GUN robot with a nicely placed trick. Its hedgehog rider yanked the weapon's transceiver out, fastened it securely to his ear—all while continuing to hurdle down the hill—and sent a bank of cars flying as he nearly wiped out on a sharp turn.

_Oops. _Sonic briefly looked back and saw no casualties (_good_) and lots of property damage (_even_ _better_). He didn't want any loss of life if he could help it, but busting up technology was one of his cherished pastimes.

_Now let's hear what their chatter about me is._ The anthromorph then listened to the speaker as they ordered their underlings to "block all major roads and capture the suspect." _Pfft._

And with that, the blue hedgehog launched himself off a construction ramp and flew high over the nearest hastily formed barricade.

ooo

_**Rolling Around At the Speed of Sound**_

ooo

_**Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow!**_

He continued down the road, launching himself off of ramps and remembering to brake while turning this time. Sonic even grabbed some rings off the road and an energy barrier from an item box he crashed through on one of the jumps. _Never know when these things might come in handy._

_**Can't stick around, gotta keep moving on,**_

The hedgehog anthromorph then dodged and weaved through a traffic intersection (careful not to hit the cars this time, since there were definitely people in them) to throw off the police. Noticing some dashpads ahead, he plowed through an antique trolley car and suddenly found himself flung out over a park.

The steep drop and traveling velocity at this point would've scared anyone but Sonic. This sort of stuff was routine: he kicked away his board and dove feet first to a graceful, if hard, landing on the ground.

Sonic looked around and noticed he was in a narrow strip of park hemmed in by walls on the sides. A second's decision led him to turn left and go deeper into the park…

_**Guess what lies ahead? Only one way to find out!**_

ooo

_Sonic!_

The figure threw off her hood (and headphones) to reveal the face of another hedgehog anthromorph—this time pink, but with green eyes similar to the ones of the blue hedgehog standing before her. She sprinted towards Sonic and nearly knocked him to the ground with a huge tackle-hug from behind.

"Whoa!" Sonic was only surprised for a moment before he realized exactly who his partner was going to be on this mission. He rolled his eyes, wiggling himself (with great effort) from his fellow hedgehog's vicegrip. "Amy."

"Sonic! I'm so glad you're okay!" the pink hedgehog named Amy Rose happily exclaimed. "I was SO worried when I heard you—"

"It was all part of the mission," Sonic reminded her. He took off the robot's transceiver and crushed it in his hand. "We're not going to need this."

"Sure thing!" Amy enthused. "I've got a communicator right here that we can both share! Tails is on the other end too!"

_Thank the stars; I was worried that I'd be stuck talking to Amy the entire mission._ With a resigned look on his face all the same, he turned to Amy. "Listen, my transceiver was probably being tracked—"

"Because you nabbed it off of GUN, didn't you?" Amy's expression grew thoughtful. "Since it was a GUN transceiver, they'd be keeping tabs on it as part of their surveillance routines."

Sonic was legitimately surprised. He gave her a small smirk. "Looks like you're learning."

This was elating news to Amy, who was suddenly rocketed up to Cloud Nine. "Thank you, Sonic," she sighed.

The blue hedgehog sighed for an entirely different reason. "C'mon, we've gotta get going. Pretty soon they'll find where we are—"

_**Must keep on moving ahead,**_

Suddenly, GUN robots dropped into the park. This was going to be an inconvenient ride, but not unmanageable. "Heh." Sonic grinned confidently. "Looks like kicking-ass-time came a bit early. Not a problem—sooner the better, in my opinion."

The robots aimed their controlled plasma missiles in response…

_**No time for guessing, follow my plan instead!**_

…and fired.

Both hedgehogs dodged the blasts, Amy dragging out her trusty Piko Piko Hammer and lunging towards the enemies to protect her beloved. Sonic, however, was already in the action, using homing attacks on one robot after another until they were all picked off by the two hedgehogs.

"Take that! We make a wonderful team, don't we, Sonic?" Amy asked with stars in her eyes.

Sonic sighed (again) at the blatant overattachment. _But hey, at least she's not doing half-bad in battle now._

Even though Amy could be annoying at times, they'd been friends since they were kids, before she was old enough to start crushing on him after a particularly daring rescue. She was also an essential part of their three-man band—Sonic, Tails, and Amy—though it had taken a while to get the swing of things, even with her hammer. (_Pun!_)

_**Trusting in what you can't see,**_

"C'mon," he smiled, "let's find the target and get the hell out of here. I'll take point."

The stars disappeared and Amy grew determined. The need to prove herself to Sonic aside, this was a REALLY important mission for them. If this succeeded…

_**Take my lead I'll set you free.**_

ooo

_**Follow me, set me free,**_

_**Trust me and we will escape from the city!**_

They proceeded, running along walls and taking out robots. But when they destroyed their attackers, they noticed something interesting.

_**I'll make it through, follow**_

_**Follow me, set me free,**_

_**Trust me and we will escape from the city!**_

"Huh? What're these glowing capsules?" Sonic asked. They were all structured the same, but the color they gave off was unique to each capsule.

Amy examined one. "Ooo! It looks like there are gem shards inside of them! How pretty! Can we take some with us?" She asked her partner eagerly.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Sure, I guess. Although…" He stopped to think for a moment. "Tails would probably get a kick out of analyzing these thingies."

"YAY!" Amy exclaimed. She'd finally done something Sonic agreed with!

"Amy!" Sonic exclaimed back, "Not so lou—"

More GUN robots immediately honed in on their position. Sonic sighed. This was going to take a little longer than expected. _She might be enthusiastic and determined about this, but she's still pretty inexperienced. Why Tails didn't leave Amy behind to coordinate at Command and be on the ground himself for this super important mission is beyond me… I'll need to ask him where the hell we need to go after we get out of here._

Amy sighed, frustrated. _I always have to go and mess these important things up just when it seems like I've done something Sonic likes!_ She quickly scooped up two of the glowing capsules and pulled out her hammer once again. "All right!" She charged into battle. "I'm going to fix this quick!"

_**I'll make it through, prove it to you…**_

_**Follow me!**_

A few moments later, the partners were dashing through a park, Sonic doing flips off stray construction ramps (in an attempt to get to a good vantage point) and Amy taking out the robots below that would've picked him off.

Once the blue hedgehog made it onto the top of a short tunnel, he pulled out the communicator that Amy had handed off to him, flipped it back on, and stuck it into his ear.

"Tails! We're almost out of the park Amy met me at; can you figure out where the convoy's at from here?"

"Sure thing, Sonic!" Their young mission coordinator, a yellow fox anthromorph called Tails Prower (named so for the unusual trait of two rotatable tails he possessed), used the hacked GUN radio feed to estimate the trajectory of the traveling target. "The truck's traveling down towards the bayside base like we knew it would be. But to intercept it, you're going to have to decrease your altitude pretty rapidly, and that park goes west to east for a while…" he finished on an unsure note.

"Hmm…" Sonic looked around for a quick way to get down… there WAS that loop de loop that led down the side of a building. He had no idea what it was doing there, but it'd make for a quick solution—_and a fun sprint, too._

_**Oh yeah!**_

"Amy! Head for the loop! And watch it!" he added. "I think the drop could be steep!"

_**Danger is lurking around every turn,**_

The pink-quilled hedgehog emerged victoriously from the tunnel, putting away her hammer. "Sure thing, Sonic!" She smiled reassuringly. "I'll be A-okay!" _A pun on my own name! He'll like that for sure._

_**Trust your feelings, got to LIVE AND LEARN!**_

The two ran up the loop… and then down the sheer drop of a tall apartment building. Sonic relished in the feeling of the wind whistling by them. He accelerated, Amy struggling to keep up behind him. She kept her eyes on her blue beloved to remain steady—while she'd gained a lot of speed over the years pursuing Sonic, he was still the best (and bravest) at daredevil stunts like these.

_**I know with some luck that I'll make it through,**_

As they got closer to the ground, they spied a set of springs in lieu of the traditional slope.

_**Got no other options only one thing to do!**_

Sonic hit the springs first, flying some distance before he landed on a rail and grinded up it with his special soap shoes.

_**I don't care what lies ahead,**_

As the slower of the two, Amy had a bit more time to hit the spring in a way that would launch her towards where she wanted to go—the straight red poles stretching over the top of the (yet another) park they found themselves in; they were probably used to hang banners during the holidays.

She grabbed ahold of one with both hands, swinging in a circle around it _(thank goodness I wore leggings today)_ before throwing herself up to the next one and doing the same.

_**No time for guessing, follow my plan instead.**_

This gave her a break from the ground route, where Sonic was currently doing homing attacks from one robot to another.

After the last pole, she flipped herself upright and prepared to land on a high ledge. _But just to make sure I don't overshoot… _She took out the Piko Piko and began to whirl around in midair, creating a helicopter effect that allowed Amy to lower herself to the ground (relatively) slowly.

_**Find the next street no matter what that may be.**_

On the way down, she accidentally hit a mysterious gold GUN robot that randomly showed up out of the corner of her eye. It crashed to the ground and started sparking.

"That was odd," Amy said to herself. Once she landed, she gave it a good final WHACK, and the robot exploded. Then she noticed another odd thing. Pushed up next to the wall beside a wooden GUN crate was a large blue box with what looked like large outlines of a Chao's head on all sides.

_**Take my lead, I'll set you free!**_

She busted it open with her hammer to find an equally mysterious blue key that was also Chao themed. "Hmm!" She picked it up and put it with the gem shard capsules she'd collected. Then she turned to the (significantly shorter) way out of THIS park—a large pit that was still being worked on, if the construction cylinders and general bottomlessness of it were any indication. _Is everything in this city under construction?_

_**Follow me, set me free,**_

She could get across the pit just fine by helicoptering, but there was the problem of the GUN robots suddenly floating in her way. "Hey, Sonic!" she called down to her partner.

"What's up?" he asked as he finished off the last of the robots on the ground—at this point, GUN'd pretty much have all the abandoned park zones covered, so they needed to change scenery fast. He spied a sloping wall leading up to the ledge Amy was on. A spindash and he was right up there with her.

_**Trust me and we will escape from the city.**_

Amy wouldn't lie, she was a bit envious of Sonic's ability to curl up into a ball like that. "I need to get across the pit, but all those GUN robots are in the way…"

"No problem," responded Sonic in a significantly better mood after a good bout of running. "How about you take the low road over the construction cylinders and I take the high road? You've always jumped higher over platforms than I have."

"Sure!" Amy grew enthusiastic again, giving Sonic a smile and a blush.

_**I'll make it through, follow,**_

_**Follow me, set me free,**_

One pit crossing later, they found themselves in front of the exit… which was blocked with caution signs.

"Heh, this'll be no problem!" Sonic said confidently. "We can just somersault under these. But be careful," he turned to Amy, "you're going to have to start running right when you hit the street, and watch out for cars, too! You ready?"

"Ready!" Amy gave Sonic a determined look.

_**Trust me and we will escape from the city.**_

They somersaulted out of the park and dashed down the street. Sonic gave Tails the major intersection they just passed. "Wow! You guys really moved fast!" Tails enthused. "But… huh. The convoy actually seems to be north of you… and it looks like it's speeding up."

"Ha! Looks like all we've gotta do is lie in wait and—"

"Sonic!" Amy yelled, scared, "Something big's getting close!"

_**I'll make it through prove it—**_

_Uh oh._ Sonic and Amy both looked behind them as a loud noise got closer and closer. Its source finally rounded the corner…

"What the hell!"


	2. The Mad Convoy Race

A/N: Hello, all! And welcome to my AU! It's a bit too early to start going into detail, but once the swing of things starts, I'll be able to talk a little more.

However, I did get a "quick Q," which I will quickly answer (especially for those who may not be familiar with the older games): GUN's position in this universe is described at the end of this chapter, but it's also worth noting that GUN was one of the main antagonists in SA2—most of the levels featured their robots as enemies.

I know this chapter is pretty short, but I wanted to wrap up what was essentially the City Escape level before heading into the next part of the story. So, without using up any more time, on with the show!

ooo

The Mad Convoy Race

ooo

A humongous grey GUN truck—the exact convoy they were looking for—was charging down the street towards them and plowing other vehicles out of the way. As the cars went flying, Sonic quickly calculated that the truck was accelerating too fast for Amy to outrun it. He immediately braked, snagged Amy as she ran by in a panic, and began to speed up again while holding her bridal-style.

The pink anthromorph gulped and held on tight to her beloved as they attempted to lose the convoy by taking sharp turns. However, the trailer-truck was able to round the corners without skipping much of a beat, knocking more cars away into buildings and PROBABLY causing danger to life and limb this time. Amy looked on and told Sonic what she saw; both were equally horrified.

_What the hell are they doing! Don't they even care about the innocent bystanders—y'know, their CITIZENS? This is something I would've expected from Robotnik, but GUN? _Sonic sped up and put some distance between them and the truck before pulling out the energy shield and handing it to Amy. "Can't predict what this truck will do, so might as well use this now." Amy nodded and activated the item, surrounding the two in a hollow green sphere.

Suddenly, the truck hit the accelerator and zoomed towards them. Sonic grimaced. _Well, that just made us a shiny moving target. Bad idea. _

He accelerated, but the truck accelerated to keep up with him—this repeated several times, almost as if the truck was designed for going after someone like him. The blue hedgehog couldn't help thinking that this would actually be a fun challenge if so many lives, including Amy's, weren't at stake.

Finally, they hit a flat incline and noticed a very narrow archway ahead straight under an apartment building. The truck definitely wouldn't have the ability to get through, but it would also crash straight into the building…

"Don't worry. That apartment building's pretty new, and pretty sturdy," Amy offered as she sensed Sonic's discomfort. "Dashing under it's going to be the only way to stop this truck. Besides, if we drag this out, even more people are going to be hurt!"

Sonic agreed, but his previous moment of hesitation allowed the truck to gain ground and pop their shield. Fortunately, it sent the contestants of sorts in opposite directions—the truck backwards, and the two partners hurdling forward. Sonic almost tripped to their doom, but he was able to right himself in under a second.

The convoy surged towards them in one last burst of speed, the engine roaring in their ears from only a few feet behind them, but the blue anthromorph finally flew under the archway, leaving the truck in a very precarious situation. It turned aside to try to avoid crashing, but the turn was too sharp—the truck flipped over and slid into the building, its engine exploding in flames and smoke.

Sonic braked to a stop. He set Amy down, and they both turned around to survey the damage.

The blue hedgehog got a strange feeling that almost emanated from the convoy. He decided to check it out—_I mean, that's what we're here for after all, right?_

"Okay. We're going to go in, get the cargo, and get out of here." Sonic turned to Amy. "I know you'll want to try and help everybody out who got hurt—I will too—but there's no way we can do that and not get caught." His face grew softer and sadder. "Understand?"

"…Yeah." Amy looked down.

"Let's go."

ooo

Years and years ago, a young scientist named Ivo Robotnik launched a revolution against the Guardian United Nations, the leading world power at the time. This war was unique, the first of its kind, for one of its sides was made up almost entirely of robots. This was because Dr. Robotnik believed that the future of warfare and all other aspects of existence lay in human technology. He would stop at nothing to ensure this glorious future; a future that included himself on the ultimate throne of the world.

The war continued on between the Badniks, as the new robots were called, and the Guardian Units of Nations, GUN's military wing, for a few years. It eventually resulted in a draw and a peace treaty, and Earth was now divided between two powers, neither of which were entirely benevolent towards their citizens.

See, GUN had fallen under martial law during the war, a condition notoriously hard for a state to wiggle itself out of. The military was the highest priority, even above the citizens—a mindset demonstrated vividly by this past episode involving Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose. Objectors were treated harshly at best.

In the other state, simply known as the Empire, technology was the highest priority, even above life itself. The reasoning was that technology would help more people to live better lives. But instead of helping, Robotnik's technology enslaved. It sucked the life and beauty out of every place and person it touched.

However, even under such harsh conditions, life and freedom still found a way to sprout. Rebel groups popped up all over, both big and small. Sonic, Tails, and Amy, three children with extraordinary abilities, considered themselves a rebel group, even if only a tiny one. They did what they could to help, and their tininess actually came in handy: it allowed them to stay under the radar where bigger groups would show up and get crushed.

It was an important day when Tails' hacking skills were finally good enough to estimate the location of major GUN weapons that could finally take down Robotnik if used properly. The three seized on the chance and set out to capture the one that was most vulnerable and yet one of the most difficult to get to—traveling unprotected right in the heart of the capital.

But the true nature of the weapon the three would unleash would have ramifications that nobody, especially not they, could ever have guessed…


	3. A Weapon Awakened

A/N: Thank you all so much for reviewing! I really appreciate it. :D

To answer Hikari Angel's question: There are no pairings as of yet—I'm trying to keep the romance light for now. The plot is also going to be a lot more AU starting this chapter, so hang on tight!

ooo

The doors of the cargo hold crumpled inwards as Amy dealt the final blow with the Piko Piko Hammer. She and Sonic had just zipped over to the truck after letting Tails know what happened and were now discretely attempting to break into it as fast as they could.

They both peered into the yawning blackness of the truck. Sonic momentarily saw (or sensed?) something farther inside that seemed to almost glow. It was an odd feeling. "Amy… Did you just see what I saw?"

She shook her head and strained her eyes. "No, I don't see anything."

Sonic cocked his head. "This is getting weirder and weirder."

ooo

A Weapon Awakened

ooo

They jumped into the hold, Amy pulling out a flashlight and shining it around until it revealed a large capsule at the opposite end. The partners approached it quickly and then examined it.

It was a large sphere supported by seven pipe-like columns, and under the sphere seemed to be a shut compartment. Attached was a computer console, which Amy promptly activated by touching the screen.

"Looks like we need to use this to access the weapon," Amy whispered. She waited for it to fully boot up, but was soon disappointed. "Darn! It looks like we need a password!" the pink hedgehog exclaimed and grimaced.

She turned to Sonic. "Any ideas? …Sonic?"

Her partner was staring at the capsule intently, looking for that glow that had appeared just seconds before. "Hmm…" He began to tap to see if it was hollow, but was suddenly interrupted—

_Maria…_

Chaotic flashes of seemingly random images sent Sonic reeling away from the sphere—

_I've finally found one…_

"…onic?"

He started and turned to Amy. "Are you okay? And a password! Do you have any ideas for a password?" she asked, growing panic apparent in her voice.

Speaking of voices, that one he heard sounded pretty weird—almost as if it wasn't actually sounding at all. "Shh!" he exclaimed (quietly) as he rubbed his head, "Didn't you hear or see any of that? Someone was saying something!"

"Huh?"

"They said Maria or something… maybe that's the password?" Amy began to worriedly raise an eyebrow at Sonic's statement. He sighed, realizing that he was either cracking from the stress or suddenly having weird-ass visions that only he could see. Which probably meant that he was cracking from the stress. "Call it a hunch," he continued. "Type it in and see what happens."

She did, and… "Password accepted," the computer announced.

The spherical capsule opened swiftly in a flash of white light that made Sonic and Amy shield their eyes. But as the glare faded, both lowered their hands to see a very surprising sight.

ooo

Back at Command, Tails was getting worried. For some reason, he'd become unable to communicate with Sonic and Amy once they'd entered the truck—all he heard was static every time he tried to contact them.

And the situation was about to get a lot more complicated. The GUN chatter he was hearing seemed to indicate that a team had, of course, been deployed to the site of the crashed truck, but they were elite operatives. In fact, the operatives they were sending had far more expertise than Tails had expected.

Something was wrong here. For such a light guard, they were sending in a pretty heavy cleanup crew. He still couldn't contact Sonic or Amy either, no matter how much he frantically tried. _The truck must have jammers installed for non-GUN frequencies. Why didn't I think of that!_

Tails frowned and fought down the panic. He needed to think clearly—his friends were counting on him to do so—and prepare to help them out when they were able to get away from the jammers. Besides that, all he could do now was trust that they could stay safe.

ooo

Inside the capsule, rising to his feet from a crouching position, was a black anthromorph hedgehog with blood-red stripes and fiery red eyes as well. But the most shocking thing of all… was who he resembled.

"S-Sonic?" Amy asked, wide-eyed and stunned.

"What the— who are you? And… why do you look like me?" Sonic asked, almost at the same time.

The doppelganger narrowed his eyes, confused. "My name is Shadow."

He turned to Sonic. _We DO look alike. Hmm… _Shadow concentrated, and sensed a weak glow within the other. _He has Chaos Potential. Perfect._ "Your name?" he asked.

"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog," the blue anthromorph responded warily.

"And yours?" Shadow looked at Amy.

"Amy Rose," she said softly, still somewhat stunned.

"Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose. Since you were so kind to release me," the black hedgehog stretched and rolled his arms, "I will grant you one wish… in exchange for a wish of mine."

"Wait wait wait," Sonic interjected. "You're telling me that YOU'RE the weapon?"

Shadow smirked. "I suppose you could say that…"

While they talked, Amy noticed that the compartment under the sphere had opened to reveal a large, brilliant green emerald. She pointed to it. "What's that?"

Shadow's gaze turned reverent as he laid eyes on the jewel. "It all starts with this…" He walked over to the compartment, pulled the gem out, and held it level with his eyes. "A jewel containing the ultimate power."

ooo

Suddenly, the jamming stopped. Tails immediately re-honed in on his friends' signal and heard them talking… with someone else?

ooo

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Sonic exclaimed. Shadow turned to him with an irritated expression, but he was interrupted before he could speak.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled over the radio. "Sonic, are you there? Who are you talking to?"

"Tails!" the blue hedgehog responded. "Listen, things have gotten REALLY weird. We're actually talking to what—er, WHO we've been looking for this entire time. The weapon's another hedgehog."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either. What's the situation outside the truck?"

"It doesn't look good. An elite strike force is almost at your location. You need to leave fast!"

Sonic groaned and palmed his forehead. _Things keep getting weirder and worser… _"Uh… Shadow, right? You know how to fight?"

The black hedgehog cocked an eyebrow. "…I'm the ultimate weapon you've presumably been trying to obtain with hard work, sweat, and literal blood. Of course I can fight."

"Right…" Sonic enthused not-so-enthusiastically. _This is not a good situation. Sure, this Shadow guy can help us—he probably wants to get out of here as much as we do, if not more. But our opponents are going to be pretty tough, especially since they're not robots we can just destroy. _He frowned. _Life should only be taken away when it's absolutely necessary._

The blue anthromorph looked back at Amy. _It's going to be too dangerous for her—she's not skilled enough to handle a battle like this. _"You'll have to stay in the rear."

"What? Sonic, I can fight too!" she argued adamantly.

"Of course you can, but this is too dangerous!"

"I can take care of myself, just let me try!"

"Amy—"

"Chaos Spear!"

The blue and pink hedgehogs turned around to behold the first of the operatives struck down by a spear of yellow energy—fired from the hand of Shadow the Hedgehog. Their eyes widened, Sonic's mouth gaping open a bit. Both then ran up to Shadow.

"What the hell was that!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow gave him a raised eyebrow. _How could someone like him have Chaos Potential and not know…?_

"A Chaos Spear."

"Huh?"

"…I wonder, do you even know that this jewel I'm holding is a Chaos Emerald?" The black one shook his head in disbelief.

"It's a WHAT?"

But during this exchange, both had made the fatal mistake of sudden inattention to the battle at hand, and this mistake was immediately taken advantage of by the next operative, who aimed and fired straight at Sonic.

Unfortunately for the blue one, this was a special gun, designed to fire swift enough to hit super-fast targets. So when he heard the shot, it was too late to dodge—he was already stock still.

But for Amy, who had seen the sniper line up the shot just a moment before, there was a chance to move. She took it, shoved Sonic out of the way, got shot through her right arm, and staggered, dropping all the items and rings she'd collected.

"AMY!" Sonic shouted.

_Maria… _Shadow was almost in shock. This was all too familiar.

With her left arm, Amy attempted to grab everything back: she got the gem capsules and her Piko Piko Hammer, but the rings were out of reach… which left the mysterious key.

The operative lined up his next shot at Amy—to kill. Sonic began to move towards Amy. Shadow angrily readied another Chaos Spear for the sniper.

But then Amy grabbed the key.

Suddenly, a great white flash surrounded her and filled up the vision of everyone in the room. Afterwards, she was gone, the only trace of her the rings she had dropped.

The operative then hesitated, and that proved to be his undoing as the Chaos Spear knocked him away.

"AMY!" Sonic shouted. He had been too late to stop… whatever had happened.

"Sonic? Sonic?" Tails asked frantically. "What happened to Amy?"

He whirled around to face Shadow, who looked on, momentarily regarding the event with what seemed to be a thoughtful expression.

"Was that… Chaos Control?" the black anthromorph mumbled, surprised (and relieved).

"Don't think I didn't hear that."

His gaze shifted to an accusing Sonic, who began to glare and point at him. "You obviously know what's going on here," the rebel hedgehog began, "and I want answers now."

"Sonic!" Tails yelled.

"I was not attempting to hide anything from you," Shadow responded as he threw a Chaos Spear at another operative. For elites, they seemed to be woefully unprepared for taking on a Chaos wielder such as him. _It seems they were not expecting my release. But of all the rebels in the world, the one who came to get me had Chaos Potential… how very unfortunate for them._ He would have laughed if he didn't have to deal with the irate rebel himself at that moment.

"I simply wasn't expecting you to be completely unaware of these basic facts," he continued. "Now, there's no time for questions—we must get out of here before they send reinforcements, and you would agree that I should expect you to know THAT."

"…Dammit." Sonic resigned himself to the current situation and radioed Tails as they exited the truck to let him know what had just gone down.


	4. A Lesson in Chaos

A/N: And FINALLY, an update! Sorry guys, the semester started, and then life happened too. xD

Fortunately, I am BACK! And as a celebration, here's a good-sized chapter of Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound! I hope you all enjoy! :)

ooo

"Wait, are we seriously back at the place we started from?"

"Uh oh. Why do you think that?" Tails asked apprehensively.

"We're by an old rail station with a Chao in Space poster on one side and an apartment building with an archway way on the opposite side," Sonic explained. "I'm sure of it; this is where Amy and I stopped at after the truck chase."

"What? Oh man…"

ooo

A Lesson in Chaos

ooo

Sonic and Shadow, with Tails' help on the radio, had dodged and evaded the GUN forces—skirmishing when they were forced to—all afternoon and throughout the hilly capital by the bay. Night fell with the two hedgehogs ducking into a narrow alley to avoid the robots that swiftly flew by seconds later. Unfortunately, they had indeed run a large, elaborate circle back to near the scene of the wreck, which appeared to have been cleared.

Since there hadn't been any time to contemplate before, Shadow took the opportunity to gain his bearings; he was still somewhat disoriented. On the Space Colony ARK where he had been born and raised, many of the spaces were small and confined, although the experimental zones could be large.

But here on Earth… the outside land seemed to stretch on forever with no enclosing walls, and the sky stretched tall above him. There was no ceiling. It was almost dizzying, and cities were supposedly some of the most confined environments on the planet. He wouldn't consciously admit it to himself, but he was somewhat apprehensive about having to deal with the open plains he'd heard his adoptive sister Maria yearn for so much.

_Maria… We both dreamed of coming here for so long. And here I am, alone… _

…_Well, not entirely alone, _Shadow mused as he turned to his blue companion, who was alternating between tapping his foot and pacing restlessly while on the radio with Tails the whole time. The striped hedgehog COULD have just teleported the two of them out of there, but it was imperative that he see how valuable an asset this other hedgehog could be.

"You've been trying your best, Tails, but I don't know how we're going to get out of here—Wait." Sonic looked at Shadow at almost the same time the black one turned to him. Now that he had the time to think about the situation, something clicked in his head, and Sonic's green eyes met Shadow's red ones.

"Amy's not dead, I _know_ she isn't, so where'd she go and how'd she get there?"

"Hm." Shadow smirked. "You seem to be so confident that I know these things."

"Don't dodge the question, answer it!" Sonic snapped, casting the other a serious glare. "When she disappeared in that giant flash of light, you said something about 'Chaos Control,'" he emphasized the last two words with fingered quotation marks, "and when I asked about it, you told me we didn't have any time to talk about that." The blue hedgehog crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "Well, we've got time now, maybe as much time as we'll ever have if things go the way they're looking. So! Where's Amy and how'd she get there?"

Shadow's eyebrows rose and his smirk faded slightly. _Well. He seems to be more intelligent than I anticipated. This will make him easier to teach about Chaos Abilities … but still, I'll have to be more careful about what I say from now on if the plan is going to work. _

"I do not know where your companion went," he began. "However, I CAN tell you how she got there… it was probably through Chaos Control."

Sonic grew more impatient as he continued his foot-tapping. "…Which is?"

"Chaos Control is an ability that taps into the power of Chaos Energy to move the user through time and space," Shadow continued. Sonic gave him a befuddled look. Shadow gave him an exasperated look in turn. "…Do you even know what Chaos Energy is?"

"Well yeah, duh," Sonic responded. "But traveling through space and time? Besides, I only know about Chaos Energy through, er, special circumstances. Most people think it's a total myth."

Shadow, surprised again (although this time he made sure not to show it at all), filed that information away. There would be time to figure out why people had forgotten later. (Not to mention also figuring out how many years it would have taken to eradicate that knowledge—_just how long have I been in stasis, anyway?_) But that hedgehog knew about it despite that…

"Hmph… I suppose you won't tell me what these 'special circumstances' are?" He smirked again. "Now look who's being cagey."

"Well," Sonic smirked in return, "To be fair, I guess we're running out of time to talk about that, huh?"

_Interesting. There's more to this hedgehog than meets the eye—and even on the outside, there is the mystery of how he resembles me… _"It seems like it. I suppose the only place to go now is that square." _But I'll be staying behind in this alley, _the black-and-red striped hedgehog mentally added. _I need to see exactly what he's capable of against the more powerful weapons that GUN will swiftly bring to bear on us._

"Looks like it. Tails," Sonic reported, "We're gonna head into the square."

"Sonic… well, I guess there isn't anywhere else to go, is there?" Tails was sheepish. "I'm sorry I couldn't help more—"

"Dude, you did great with what you had!" The green-eyed rebel exclaimed. "And I'm probably gonna get in a fight real soon—so I'll need you to keep up the good work!" Sonic gave a thumbs-up as he talked, even though Shadow was the only one who could see it.

Shadow gestured with an open hand towards the old railcar square. "Hmph. After you." Sonic glanced at him and nodded.

The two immediately dashed towards the square—Shadow braking right before Sonic exited the alley.

The blue anthromorph himself braked a second later, and assumed a fighting stance, turning his head this way and that warily. Nothing showed. "Heh! Looks like we've finally shaken them! Well, it was fun at first, but… this game of tag is boring. I'm outta here!"

Suddenly, a giant two-legged mecha landed on the scene. Sonic faced it down. "Finally decided to show up, eh?" He pointed (with an enthusiasm unexpected after a long pursuit) and proclaimed, "Okay! Bring it on!" _Looks like it'll be a challenge. But hey, there's nothing like relieving stress by giving some machines a good ass-kicking._

He zipped toward the mecha which immediately lifted off, its two legs folding up as it activated its thrusters and began to circle the square. Sonic braked with a screech of burning shoe-sole rubber and started figuring out how he could attack the flying machine. Meanwhile, Tails listened in on its transmissions.

"Spider Troop's BIG FOOT reporting to headquarters. Anthromorph hostile has been located!"

"Copy that."

Tails pulled up a file and quickly went over the design of the machine for Sonic. "It seems like you're facing the F-6t BIG FOOT. It's part of their series of Ground-to-Air Combat Walkers. Hmm…" He scrolled through the schematics. "It's got missile launchers, so watch out! Strong armor, but the cockpit appears to be a weak point…"

_Time for homing attacks, then! But how to get up to its level… _The hedgehog then spied a bunch of wooden crates laying around with the GUN insignia stamped on them—probably left over from the siege earlier that day. "Alright, got it. Thanks, man!"

The BIG FOOT mecha whirled around as he jumped on top of one of the crates. It barreled down on Sonic; Sonic stared right back at it. Finally, when the moment was right—he jumped, curled into a ball, homing attacked, and felt the wobble of the machine as he plowed into it.

_Hmm, he seems to be doing well for himself. _Shadow grew a wicked smile. _Yes, this one will do._

The blue anthromorph bounced away, landed feet-first on the pavement, and looked up to see the machine swivel around and approach him again. He moved to jump on another crate, which startled him by suddenly exploding. Sonic leaped away and saw a line of bullets from the walker swerving from the shattered box back towards him.

He dodged the line of fire, got one more crate-jumping homing attack in, and attempted to confound the machine by zipping in circles and figure-8s, but that had the unexpected consequence of shattering most of the remaining crates. _Crap. _Fortunately, the machine landed. As Sonic began to run toward it, the hatches on its boxy yellow shoulders opened to reveal the missile launchers that Tails had warned him about.

Sonic homing attacked the cockpit again right as the mecha fired its first missile—while the hedgehog anthromorph made the mark, the missile hit him just as the cockpit equipment began to go off kilter.

Meanwhile, Tails listened to the pilot's now static-y transmissions…

"This is Spider Troop's BIG FOOT reporting to headquarters! Repeat: we have engaged the enemy and request backup!"

"Sonic!" the fox radioed, "it sounds like you guys've almost got him! Just get in one more hit and then you can get out of there! You've gotta make it fast too; there might be reinforcements coming!"

The hedgehog fell to the ground winded and dropped all his rings. As he tried to get his breath back he suddenly realized—_wait, where the heck is Shadow?_ A glance back to the alley revealed his companion lurking in the, well, shadows, with his arms crossed and intently watching the action. "What the hell, man! Why aren't you fighting?"

Suddenly, the mecha's railgun began to fire scattered, sporadic shots all over the area.

_Its firing systems are probably going haywire. This is heading south fast_. Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald—"Dammit, he can't die yet! Chaos Control!"— and disappeared in a bright green flash of light.

"Wha? Hey, where do you think you're going?" Sonic exclaimed as he began to get up—

Shadow reappeared, snatched the other hedgehog's arm, and yanked him away as a spray of bullets hit the place where they had just been. Unfortunately, in the fray he'd taken a bullet himself and dropped all his rings. This left no rings between the two of them, and the ones that were left in the area were all bouncing on the ground near the breaking machine.

_Wow, he's fast! Hey, it's not his speed… he must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp! _Sonic observed._ So this is Chaos Control up close, huh? _But as Shadow let go of his arm, Sonic noticed the other's wound and moved to help.

Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm again to stop him. "Listen to me, hedgehog. It doesn't look like this is a fight _both _of us can win at this point."

"What? But I almost trashed that thing! And by myself, thank you very much—"

"Aren't there reinforcements coming?"

"Well…" Sonic hesitated for half a second, "Yeah, but—"

"Then get out of here. I'll stay behind and defeat this." As Shadow spoke, the BIG FOOT lifted off unsteadily. Wobbly, it began to make an odd noise.

"What! I can't just leave you behind; we've done all this just to get you out of here, and now you just want me to go home empty handed?"

_Sounds like it's readying its laser. Make this fast, Shadow. _The black hedgehog had an unreadable (to Sonic) look as he said, "You wouldn't be leaving empty handed. I can give you something valuable—the knowledge of how to use your power."

"What?"

The machine, after a few tries, locked on its targets and began to charge up its laser.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow commanded, and time slowed to a halt for the two hedgehogs. "This power, as I've said before, can warp space and time to your bidding. But at this point, I don't have enough power to get us both out of here," _which is a lie, but he doesn't need to know that right now, _"or even to hold us in this state for much longer."

Sonic grimaced.

"I don't know where to go to get out of here," Shadow continued, "so leaving you behind would be pointless. No, better to teach you Chaos Control—the real ultimate weapon— a skill you will undoubtedly find useful in your cause. Does this make sense?"

The blue hedgehog nodded. "…Alright."

"Then follow my instructions. Grasp the Chaos Emerald that I am holding."

Sonic did so, and he could suddenly feel a whirl of power surge through him: a feeling almost as exhilarating as running at full speed.

Shadow smirked knowingly. "I see you feel it?"

"Y-yeah," Sonic replied, a bit unsure. "What do I do next?"

"Now, focus hard on the place you want to go."

The green-eyed anthromorph imagined Command: a rickety blue-and-yellow airship Tails had cobbled together from spare armor and other robot parts. It would be sitting in the designated meetup place nestled in a valley out in the middle of the country some dozens of miles from Capital City. "Got it."

"Good. Now, say…" _Chaos Control. _Shadow sent the last part of that message through the Chaos Energy that was currently connecting them both, and the other hedgehog reacted predictably upon hearing the unspoken words.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Sonic exclaimed.

"You'll find out in good time," Shadow responded. "Now, you don't have much time left. Do what I told you!"

Sonic simply nodded with a serious look.

"Chaos Control!"

And in a bright flash of light, the blue hedgehog disappeared, leaving Shadow behind in the square. A sphere of energy was gathering at the end of the BIG FOOT's gun, the leftover bouncing rings were beginning to disappear, and he could hear the whine of sirens getting closer.

The black hedgehog scoffed—if that other hedgehog could almost defeat this robot, he himself should be able to make quick work of it, even if it would be somewhat difficult.

He skated forth and grabbed the last rings left. As he evaded the bright laser blast, and the _gunfire_, he flashed back to what had happened so recently—or was it long ago?

_I still remember what I promised you, _he thought. _For the people of this planet, I promise you…_

"Revenge!"


	5. The Seal Shatters

A/N: Sheesh, another ridiculously long update interval… but I was working on _Chaos Chao and Good Wishes _during that time, so at least I'm not out of practice!

bogey654: Thank you for reviewing once again! Although I'm not quite sure what bazinga means. o_0

Shadow is more trained and hence better than Sonic in battle… for now. We'll see how their skills develop more over the course of the story. ;)

Now let's go!

ooo

While Sonic and his friends awakened Shadow in the heart of the GUN, life went on in the other parts of the world—including those that don't fall within the territory of any empire. One island in particular was the most significant of all: Angel Island. Most didn't know of its existence, save for a special handful of anthromorphs… and one very important human.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, emperor of half the known world, had known about the island's legends since childbirth. It was the home of the Master Emerald, that large object whose power exceeded all of the seven fabled Chaos Emeralds... and unlike all of his fellow humans, he knew for a certainty that all these gems existed. Since these Chaos Emeralds are hidden all over the world (and devilishly hard to find at that), he calculated that it was a much safer bet to go after _one_ jewel whose power could rival the gathered power of the other seven.

However, there were other special things about the island. For instance, it had the power to levitate through the air, a power granted to it by the Master Emerald… but only as long as the Emerald resided in its altar. If anything were to happen to its power source, the island would fall into the ocean—or at least that's what the legends said.

Years ago, some of his robots had finally discovered Angel Island while on a routine scouting mission. Yes, contact with them had been lost as soon as they got too close, but the data they had sent back had been absolutely invaluable. An extraordinarily large power source on an island that hung in the sky… the legends were true! It had taken years to find it again (satellite imagery didn't show anything—it was obviously cloaked), but a recent second encounter by another patrol (this time from a safe distance) had allowed the emperor to calculate its trajectory and catch up with it.

And so it was a dark and stormy night as Robotnik's prized flagship, the _Carrier_, sailed towards the floating island…

ooo

The Seal Shatters

ooo

The large Master Emerald shone as a green beacon from its place atop a tall, weathered altar surrounded by seven dilapidated pillars. Sitting before it was a young echidna anthromorph possessing red fur, dreadlock-style quills, and large clawed hands gloved in white. He was the guardian of the Master Emerald, and it was his duty to watch over it day and night, even during a long and treacherous night such as this.

But right now, the storm had abated on Angel Island, and there was only silence and clouds blowing at the altar. The echidna took this respite as a chance to rest and meditate.

_As far back as I can remember, I've been living here, on this dark island… Always guarding the Master Emerald from anything that could harm it. I don't know why I was given this job… Why it was my fate… Destined to be here… forever!_

"…But what I do know is that someone else is hiding around here," the Guardian of the Master Emerald suddenly finished out loud. "Show yourself!" Snapping open his amethyst eyes, he whirled around and met his uninvited visitor as she reached the top after climbing the side of the shrine.

"Darn!" Rouge the Bat exclaimed as she pulled off her slim black jumpsuit's hood and night goggles. "You caught me _again!_"

"I would've caught you sooner if I'd remembered that bats are more active at night— and you're so loud it's hard _not_ to catch you anyway," Knuckles the Echidna shot back. "Seriously, it seems like you get noisier every time you try stealing the Emerald!"

"Hmph!" The white anthromorph waved her hand dismissively but then grew a coy look. "Sounds like you're just more and more attentive each time because you're waiting for me to drop by…"

"O-of course not!" Knuckles exclaimed with a blush. "I'm PROTECTING the Emerald from thieves like you—hey, _wait _a minute!"

While Knuckles had been flustering, the purple-winged Rouge had made a dash for her target—only to be thwarted as Knuckles intercepted her at the last moment. Frustrated, she sighed.

"Just… let it go!" she said, swiping at Knuckles (over)dramatically. "You don't know WHEN to give up, do you?"

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked. "That Emerald's mine! You got that?" He held his fist out as if to shake it towards Rouge, then pulled it back, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes in thought. "The Master Emerald contains special powers that neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. _That_ makes it very powerful—WHAT THE!"

He had opened his eyes to behold a giant metal claw gripping the Master Emerald and lifting it off its pedestal.

"Whaa—thief!" Rouge said.

"Look who's calling who a thief…"

"Hey!"

"A-hem!" another voice crankily cut in from atop the origin of the metal claw, a grey hovercraft. Its owner was an old male human with a large auburn moustache. He wore a red military uniform, scarlet cape attached, and night goggles as well. But his most glaring characteristic was his girth; in fact, if one looked at the rough shape of him plus his hovercraft, it looked… almost like a giant egg.

"Wait a minute…" Knuckles realized, "you're… Robotnik!"

The man cackled. "I'll soon be _Emperor _Robotnik to you! I came here following the signal from the Emerald… If I'm not mistaken, this is the Master Emerald, is it not?" Things had gone better than expected—although the emperor had predictably lost contact with the _Carrier_ after a certain point, his other instruments were still able to track the energy signature of his target, and now he _had it!_

"It's really you… Robotnik…" Although he'd never seen him before, Knuckles had heard stories about him from the first friends he had ever made—he was the man behind the robots that had threatened the Sky Sanctuary!

"So _that's _Dr. Robotnik…" This was also Rouge's first time seeing the most notorious man in the world, the man responsible for so much chaos… If _he _was here, that meant Knuckles' superstitious ramblings were true after all. _I've obviously gotten into something way bigger than I thought at first… _The subtlest of smirks appeared on her lips. _But if I stick around, the payoff could be __**tremendous.**_

"Well," Robotnik sneered, "I guess I can use it for something. I'll just take it with me." His hovercraft turned around and began to fly off, Emerald in tow. "Farewell, knucklehead!"

Knuckles never had a plan for theft by air, seeing as he never thought anyone _could _steal the Master Emerald by air. But he definitely needed to keep it out of the hands of someone as evil as this guy, so he did the first thing he thought of: he soared into the air and smashed the Emerald with his knuckle-clawed fists, throwing the hovercraft off balance in the process.

("Ahhh!" Rouge exclaimed as she saw her precious quarry being threatened, but her protest went unheeded.)

The jewel shattered, and its pieces suddenly glowed and zoomed off in all directions. After that, something odder happened: a giant glob of blue liquidy substance spilled downwards and coalesced on the ground, a pink orb of sparkling light (that was only visible to Knuckles) darting after it. But the echidna was focusing forlornly on what was left of the item that he'd been charged to protect, literally with his life—and now, at this critical moment, he'd failed that duty.

As Knuckles landed and looked back, the liquid took the form of what could best be described as an anthromorphic see-through watery monster… lizard… thing. It its head rested green-yellow eyes and a pink, brain-like mass, both of which glowed. The orb of light hovered close by, but the red anthromorph was suddenly distracted by Rouge grabbing his shoulders and shaking him indignantly.

"What was _that _all about?" she demanded. Then with a few extra shakes for emphasis, "And look what you did to MY Emerald!"

"I did that to prevent the Master Emerald from being STOLEN, you idiot!" the echidna answered with frustration. "But…" he realized, "if it's in pieces, I can restore it. And by the way, it's not YOUR Emerald— watch out!"

The monster had suddenly jabbed a stretchy arm towards the two anthromorphs, and Knuckles responded by tackling Rouge to the ground, the watery claw-thing finally swiping at air. The echidna blushed as he quickly rolled off his rescuee, but while he scrambled to his feet he failed to notice a slight blush on Rouge's cheeks too.

However, she climbed to her feet as well, and with each nodding towards the other, both charged at the monster with punches (on Knuckles' part) and kicks (on Rouge's part). The water creature counterattacked, jumping high into the air and swiftly extending both legs towards its assailants. The rubbery feet hit their mark, knocking the targets flying down the altar steps.

_Is this… CHAOS? _Robotnik was astounded. Was this the monster that the legends had spoken of, the beast that was sealed within the Master Emerald? Supposedly only the Guardian could release it, and he hadn't counted on being able to get THAT much out of this trip, but he hadn't counted on the Guardian being such an inexperienced _child_, either… "Oh ho ho HOOO ho ho ho!"

The emperor deployed his Chaos Energy Containment Claw (the metal claw that had taken the Master Emerald before) and grabbed the monster. Chaos struggled against its new bonds, but Emperor Robotnik was able to retrieve most of it… save a small glob that broke free and dripped back to the ground.

_No, Chaos! _The pink orb started after the creature, but then reconsidered and ducked down close to the ground. It skirted around the altar and peeked out to see Knuckles getting up.

_I cannot let what happened before happen again… I __**must **__not! So as much as it hurts, I cannot run the risk of getting captured by that man either. It looks like the Guardian will be okay, but he is neither experienced enough, nor… _she focused and sensed his Chaos Potential, _powerful enough right now to contain this threat alone. I need to find someone else to help… but who? _She grabbed the quickly scattering energy of the Master Emerald and focused her senses, searching far and wide until she finally found a Potential that blazed bright. _But they are so far away… I'll need to use everything I still have. Master Emerald, grant me this wish! Send me to this person!_

With that request, the ball of light concentrated the energy she'd gathered and then warped far away. The Emperor also quickly took his leave: he had secured his quarry and didn't want to take any more chances, especially since he knew what would happen to the island next…

This left Rouge and Knuckles running back up the stairs through all the confusion only to find the last of the water sinking into the ground.

"Wait! What's happening to you?" Knuckles demanded. "Come back here!" It was a futile effort, and on top of that, the two anthromorphs then spied Robotnik flying away as fast as possible with the monster in tow.

"I despise _anyone _who takes jewels from me," Rouge said. "All the world's gems are mine to keep!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that, bat girl!" Knuckles responded heatedly. Then the island began to rumble ominously. "Oh no! It's starting to happen!"

"_What's _starting to happen?" Rouge dropped into a wary, combat-ready stance.

"Without the Master Emerald's power, this whole island will fall into the ocean!"

"WHAT? Nobody told me about _that!_"

"Well, somehow I don't think it would've stopped you from trying to take it anyway…"

"Hmph—"

Then the island started to sink, and both bickerers were forced to dig into the altar and hang on for dear life.


	6. The Opening Volley

Jeez, more than two months' wait. -_- But the next chapter is finally here, so huzzah! :D I know this is really short, but I've GOT to get something up after making you guys wait so long. Don't worry, the next chapter will be coming very very soon.

Masu-san the Chaohog: Why thank you! I hope I live up to your expectations! ^_^

It'd be really great if Sonic Team remade the Adventure series, but barring a canon reboot or something, that's probably not going to happen. =/ All I can do is rework them in my own way to please any audience I may attract, and I'll do my best!

bogey654: Thanks again! I actually watched part of an episode of The Big Bang Theory with my family, but I did not hear bazinga mentioned. xD Then again, I didn't watch the whole thing, so I'll take your word for it. ;)

Onwards!

ooo

_A black-and-red hedgehog perched on a tall orange bridge—suddenly, his crimson eyes open!_

_Out of a tunnel below runs a blue hedgehog, his green eyes full of determination as they focus on their red rivals._

_The black one looks down, sees his opponent, and moves to strike._

_The challenger leaps over hurdles and continues running forward._

_The first hedgehog balances as he grinds down a curved bridge cable._

_The emerald-eyed one momentarily grinds across a hurdle himself to gain speed, then continues on under a glare of light._

_The red-striped fighter keeps switching foot positions to gain speed as well._

_The two combatants zoom towards a confrontation._

_**LIVE AND LEARN!**  
><em>

_Once they reach the edges of their paths, they jump into the air…_

_**LIVE AND LEARN!**  
><em>

…_And pass each other without landing a scratch. Shadow remains stoic, but Sonic grins as the light of the large moon shines from behind them._

These two hedgehogs were fated to battle each other, she **knew. **But how, and why, she could only discover with time…

ooo

The Opening Volley

ooo

…And then she winked back into the normal flow of time and space high above—_Is that the same bridge from that vision?_

Before she could ponder more on what she'd just seen, her senses were barraged by light and noise. _What is all of this? Are those bright dots fires? But there are so many!_

As she, overwhelmed, sunk down towards the bay, she began to realize that she was much farther into the future than she'd initially thought she was going to be. That evil man's strange technology had been a clue, but here she beheld what looked to be the largest city she'd ever seen!

_There are so many things that have changed… _She looked down at what were undoubtedly soldiers gathering on the bridge. _But I guess… _she thought sadly, _that much hasn't either._

But she needed to put aside her musings for the moment and find that one she had asked the Master Emerald to send her to. Indeed, she could feel their Potential shining intensely from… _Somewhere right on that bridge below!_

And as she dived downward, she finally saw him. But something about him seemed familiar… _Wait! This is the black hedgehog I just saw!_

_And there's something else familiar about him too… Where else have I seen him?_

ooo

Emperor Ivo Robotnik strolled onto the bridge of his _Carrier _in high spirits. While he'd failed to obtain the Master Emerald, he'd gotten something just as precious, if not more so: Chaos, the God of Destruction!

He plopped down in a special oval chair (nicknamed the Egg Chair) and whirled around to face a large console made up of many computers and monitors. From here he could keep tabs on everything happening within the ship as well as without.

A quick set of beeps sounded, notifying the emperor of a message from the robots in the communications array. He'd assigned them to keep tabs on any signs of internal stress within the GUN that could be exploited. Obviously, they'd found something notable—Ivo Robotnik did NOT program any ordinary AIs that would pick up just any interesting tidbits.

Surprisingly, the information in question had been picked up off an unencrypted news story rather than a military communication. _Well, information is still information, _he thought as he pulled up the report.

"We interrupt this broadcast for an important news flash," the anchor began. Robotnik (_very discreetly_, he believed) scratched his rear as he waited for them to get on with it already.

"There is an anthromorph causing mass destruction and havoc in Capital City. The suspect is a male hedgehog, black with red eyes and stripes." Video footage of that very same hedgehog standing on top of the under-construction bridge that would span the entire bay flicked onscreen.

The emperor's jaw dropped and he slammed his fists on the console in shock. _Could that really be…? _

He fancied that if any more of this kept happening, he would have a heart attack from exhilaration.

"Oh HO!" he exulted. "So somebody finally set him free, eh?"

"It should be emphasized that this anthromorph is extremely hostile, and has been able to destroy several task forces sent to neutralize it. Citizens of the capital are required to stay off the streets, and all citizens are mandated to report any sightings of this hedgehog. Thank you."

_I've heard everything I need from this. _The emperor shut off the broadcast and leaned forward, propping his head on one hand while twirling his long red moustache with the other. He grinned.

"Sounds like the work of Project Shadow."

ooo

"Hmph! How pathetic."

Shadow was quickly surveying the military forces surrounding him. The nearest completed section of the road was filled with soldiers and their combat vehicles. Unfortunately for them, a large gap separated that from the hedgehog, and the only things that could harass him from the other direction were robots and scrambled jets. Still, he needed to move fast to avoid being completely fenced in.

He lightly grabbed his almost-healed shoulder before a gunshot whizzed by his head; he'd let his guard down. He dodged the next one and glared at his enemies.

_Why is this shooting bothering me so much? I should be able to handle this; I'm the—_

BAM!

A clatter of a bullet, and he was back on the ARK.


	7. Sadness

Sonic and Amy reentered regular time and space at the exact same place and moment: a valley dozens of miles from the capital of the GUN at night. Green and blue flashes of light respectively shone on their arrival but soon vanished as the travelers dropped to the ground, both stumbling a bit but gaining their balance quickly enough.

_Looks like I'm where I need to be. _Amy looked to her other side and saw… _SONIC! _

Simultaneously, Sonic's eyes widened as he met hers.

The pink hedgehog immediately tore towards him and knocked him to the ground with the force of her bear hug, ("Amy—oof!" Sonic exclaimed,) tears finally coming to her eyes after all the emotions of the day.

"Sooonniic! I was so WORRIED about you, that you were going to be hurt or—or worse!" She began to sniffle. "I'm so glad you're okay andIwassoworriedand—"

"Amy, Amy!" Sonic sat up and brought her in for a tighter hug. "Hey." He wiped away some of her tears, visibly relieved himself that his friend was now safe and sound. "I was really worried about you too when you just disappeared like that! But you're here now, and—"

The door to the piecemeal airship nearby swung open with a large squeal. Out of it bounded the young fox known as Tails Prower, who zoomed over to his friends with his two namesakes whirling and pulled both of his friends into a new group hug.

"Guys!" he started, "I'm so happy to see you're both still here—I thought I'd lost both of you…" Then he began to cry.

"Hey… we're all okay, and that's what counts, right?" The blue hedgehog smiled reassuringly.

"…Yeah!" The other hedgehog looked up at him and smiled back with a smaller sniffle.

"Yeah, but still…" the fox replied.

"I guess we do all need a big hug, don't we?" Sonic said. He and Amy pulled Tails closer, although neither realized they were acting at the same time. "Yeah, we'll stay like this for a little bit."

ooo

Sadness

ooo

Bullets whizzed by as he and his best friend desperately ran hand in hand down a long steel hallway, sirens buzzing and red lights flashing. Pursuing behind were soldiers—their technology seeming far simpler now—with orders to kill him. The targets rounded turns this way and that, taking shortcuts that were well-trod for them but unfamiliar to the invaders. Maria Robotnik wheezed out of exhaustion; Shadow the Hedgehog did the same, but more out of fear for his effective sister's life.

"Find them before they escape!" the squad commander yelled.

The duo reached their final destination: one of the ejection rooms that routinely jettisoned waste from the colony. The GUN had shut down all the automatic processes and unlocked all the doors as part of their raid, so they'd have to operate the release system manually and escape in the capsules. It was the only way they would be able to leave the colony with their lives.

Soldiers rounded a corner behind them and began shooting. The door automatically opened (since the locking mechanism was disabled) and the two entered, but Maria suddenly let go of Shadow's hand and whirled around to re-lock the door herself—but right before it slammed closed she took a bullet in the chest.

"MARIA!" Shadow screamed as she staggered, clutching her wound, towards the operating machine. A red spot grew and darkened the blue fabric around her hand; with the other she quickly pushed some buttons that closed a capsule over Shadow before he could get over his shock and move. "What?" he asked, still not entirely comprehending the situation.

"Shadow, I beg of you…" the mousy-blonde haired girl began as she disabled the self-destruct mechanisms, "please do it for me."

"Maria!" He banged his palms on the transparent walls of the waste pod.

"For all the people…" she turned her watery blue eyes on him with a sad smile, "on that planet…"

And with a few last painful gasps, "Sayonara, Shadow… the Hedgehog."

Then the bottom of his world slipped out from under him and he fell to the Earth below.

ooo

"…Maria!" The black hedgehog shook his head, lost in memories.

Meanwhile, the pink light saw more warriors aiming their weapons at the hedgehog. It didn't look good. _I have to get his attention somehow!_

She darted towards him faster. "Watch out!" she yelled.

Shadow felt the Potential and heard the cry in time to snap open his eyes and dodge more bullets while quickly jumping off the beam and grinding down the nearest suspension cable. The orb darted ahead of him. _What the?_

…_Hm. It appears to be a concentrated ball of Chaos Energy, _he reasoned, getting ready to launch himself off the cord.

_But if so, then why and how is it talking?_

ooo

Meanwhile, the trio of rebels (with a last few sniffles from Tails and Amy) reentered Command and reassessed the situation. This was kicked off by Amy, who finally asked the first should-have-been-obvious question of:

"Wait, what happened to Shadow?"

"Shadow," Sonic looked down and to the side, clenching his fist, "isn't coming with us."

"WHAT?" his two comrades exclaimed. Amy's hand flew to her mouth.

"But… didn't you say he was the weapon we've been looking for?" Tails looked perplexed.

"I think he's worth more than that," the blue hedgehog bitterly retorted.

Tails started ("S-Sonic!") and frowned, ears drooping. "Sorry… he's a hedgehog too, and that's what's more important."

The other paused, and then ruffled Tails' head. "It's alright, man. I know you weren't trying to be heartless or anything. Shouldn'ta gotten so pissed off at you like that. It's just..." He looked at Amy as his fox friend cheered up a bit. "I don't think we'll be seeing him again."

She lowered her hand and asked, "Why? What happened?"

"We were trying to get away from the GUN forces when a giant robot—"

"The F-6t BIG FOOT," Tails added.

"—attacked us. It almost got me, too! But Shadow was able to save me by…" Sonic then related the events that followed.

"That was really brave of him…" Amy trailed off.

"Yeah." Sonic pulled out the green Chaos Emerald he'd stowed away on his arrival. He held it in front of all of them.

"Well, the best thing we can do to honor him is to use what he gave us," Tails said. "And I've got an idea… Sonic, could you hand me the Emerald?"

"Sure, buddy." The jewel passed from hand to hand. "What exactly are you going to do with it?"

"Each Emerald has an enormous amount of power, right? I've been working on something, but I've never had a power source strong enough to sustain it. I'll need to do some recalibrations, but that shouldn't take too long." The fox, more heartened, gave a thumbs-up.

"Sounds great!" Sonic thumbs-upped back and turned to the other hedgehog. "Now, where did you go during all this? You disappeared in that flash of light right after you grabbed that weird key."

"Oh, that's right! I guess with everything going on I completely forgot to tell you." Amy scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Well…"


	8. Vengeance Is Mine

A/N: FINALLY!

Okay, it's been another long while. -_- I got a full-time job, and I work overtime sometimes, so it's been sucking the energy out of me.

HOWEVER, I have adjusted, and as a reward to you and me for waiting so long, here is the LONGEST CHAPTER EVER of _Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound_! Enjoy!

ooo

Shadow the Hedgehog jumped off the suspension cable, grinding on two hurdles before jumping onto springs that launched him up to a higher platform with a toll booth.

The light flew ahead of him, attempting to observe all her surroundings. _Those beams holding up the bridge don't seem to be made of wood… something like stone, but different somehow. _Suddenly, a roaring sound began to grow. _Wait, what's that noise?_

Fighter jets zoomed at them, dropping bombs that rattled the highway they were traveling on. While they disoriented his companion, the black hedgehog weaved and darted around them, feeling the heat on his face as he skirted the last one before speeding down a huge incline.

_Weapons that create giant balls of fire? _The pink orb was taken by surprise, but quickly shook it off as she saw her potential ally getting farther away.

The hedgehog came to a fork in the road—both paths went in the same general direction but led to separate loop-de-loops that went high into the air. He immediately chose the left one, running up and down again before entering a yellow-lit tunnel and using a dashpad to gain speed. The orb cut through the loop and caught up with her target there.

Shadow sighted the pink glow out of the corner of his eye as he got back out in the open. _Looks like it can still keep up with me, _he thought as he hit more dashpads that flung him up to the next section of road. But then there were more robots, so that meant more time wasted disposing of them. _Hmph. At least they don't take up __**too**__ much time. _

He grabbed onto a nearby construction pulley while rebounding off the second enemy and was hoisted up and away to the next platform. Meanwhile, the light had already levitated to that same spot, and was attempting to figure out what the strange device on the top was.

It looked like the point of a spear, but rounded and with four small barrels attached to each corner. Grafted on one side was a handle big enough for one to grab with both hands. _What is this for? _she wondered. _Perhaps he can use this to escape his pursuers? But how exactly does it work? _

There were little words on the side, but what she could read wasn't easily understandable. They appeared to be measurements, but she had no idea what the units written meant. _I guess this makes sense. There was ancient arithmetic that even the elders had trouble deciphering; it was from almost too long ago to be remembered… I must be far in the future indeed._

ooo

Vengeance is Mine

ooo

The anthromorph lunged off the pulley towards the transport rocket that would take him to the next section but slowed down once he saw the glow beginning to circle the rocket in front of him. It was almost like… the energy ball was examining the rocket? He narrowed his eyes. "What are you?"

"Oh!" She started backwards, surprised, but then regained her composure. "I am—"

Suddenly more fighter jets began to circle above their heads. "Dammit! They've caught up," Shadow exclaimed as he began activating the rocket. _This thing is a pain—it's obviously designed this way to prevent accidents, but on the colony you could simply turn it on by stepping on the footpad… and __**there! **__This thing's activated. _Its engines whirred on. He looked at the concentrated energy, somehow sentient, that had saved his life.

"The military will be seeking you as well," the dark hedgehog began. "I haven't seen anything like you before, and it is not likely that anyone else has either. They will want to study you."

"Study… me?" The light was astonished, and then realized, horrified—"To use me as a weapon?"

_Hmm. Apparently this being can figure things out fast. Good, it might be able to help me more than I thought. _"Yes," Shadow responded. "I owe you a debt for what you did on the bridge. Follow me and I will be able to help you escape."

"I see. Thank you so much!" _Thank goodness! _She had been worried that she would lose sight of the hedgehog, but now she knew that she'd have a chance to ask him for help.

"Now then, there's no time for introductions anymore. We have to keep moving, so get ready to fly fast." He grabbed the handle of the rocket, and it suddenly launched up into the air, startling the light before she sped after the hedgehog.

ooo

"I got transported to this weird place," Amy began as Sonic listened and Tails swung open compartments while bringing up various programs on their computer, "called Chao World. Apparently it's a pocket dimension!"

"A pocket dimension?!" Tails' eyes shone enthusiastically. "The theory's actually true? WOO-HOO!" He threw his two fists in the air but whacked one on a recently opened compartment door he'd forgotten in his excitement. "Ow!" Then with a sheepish look on his face, "Heh… guess I got a little excited there."

Amy chuckled along with Sonic, who wore an affectionate-exasperated look. "Tails…" he said.

"Then again, all this science-y stuff _is _your area of expertise," the hedgehog continued. "So of course you'd be excited. But…" he grew puzzled as he began contemplating the idea, "what exactly _are _pocket dimensions again?"

Now it was Tails' turn to be exasperated…

ooo

The rocket carried Shadow higher and higher… _But this thing should be flying level. The calibrations must be off since I activated it so fast, so it looks like I'll have to freefall onto the next platform—this will be interesting._

And indeed it was. As he soared over the next platform, he let go and fell through the wide-open drop. Once he spread his limbs to increase resistance, the cold air whipped at him; his eyes might have stung badly if he was a lesser organism.

Even so, it was exhilarating—the space that stretched up, down, all around him for what seemed like miles with the bay below and the feeling of soaring through wind that blew wilder than any air on the ARK—_It'll obviously still take time, _the red-striped hedgehog mused with eyes shining brighter than he realized and a growing smirk, _but I think I'll get used to Earth faster than I thought._

The orb also admired her surroundings as she descended alongside her companion in spirals. _It's like the stars are all around me! And objects that can fly so high and far? What wondrous things they have in this era!_

But then something else circled the two—screaming fighter jets with bullets and bombs. Shadow, startled, had let his guard down from the novelty of the experience but quickly brought his arms and legs toward his body and began accelerating downward. The pink light flew much closer to him as well.

Unfortunately, as the barrier had with Sonic and Amy earlier, the glow of the light made both escapees conspicuous targets, and they became aware of this as soon as bullets began flying too close for comfort. Shadow flipped and backflipped to dodge the shots. The orb wasn't so adept, and several bullets went right at her…

But passed straight through. She'd expected something like this would happen when she became incorporeal, but it was disconcerting all the same. She hadn't even felt anything.

She shook it off. _Escaping these soldiers with Shadow is what I should be focusing on. I need to do my part too!_

The road from the platform they were landing on seemed to be blocked by a giant rotating cylinder, but there was a space between the cylinder and the road that seemed just big enough to roll through. "Try doing a somersault—" she tried suggesting before being cut off by the hedgehog himself.

"Already figured that out." He curled up and rolled with the spin of the cylinder out from under it and, while he was still in a ball, spindashed down the downward incline, or decline as some called it. _This being might turn out to be more of a liability than a help, _he thought, cross. _I'll have to be more strategic about the situation._

_Oh! _The pink glow was startled. _Oh no, I didn't mean to bother him… But I can't give up,_ she reminded herself._ I need to figure out some way to help him so we can both escape! _

The hedgehog rolled back up to a running position and glanced behind him to see the orb of light still there. Looking to the front, he saw an orange blimp (advertising some kind of new shoe, if he remembered correctly from the ads he saw on land) with a spotlight frantically shining this way and that clearly looking for them. _Too bad I can run faster than a mere spotlight can keep up. _

There was also a loop-de-loop ahead leading to the parking garage of what seemed to be an under construction on-the-water office building —they were getting close to the other end of the bay. "We'll need to separate for a bit," he announced.

"What?" the glow exclaimed. "But—"

"We'll meet up again," the anthromorph cut in. "I'll go through that building, but you need to head for the last section of unfinished bridge and be as evasive as you can. Separating will draw their forces apart, so there will be less soldiers after each of us. Got it?"

"I see. Yes!" She immediately veered off and began to dart among the increasing number of buildings.

Shadow himself jumped into the building and was surprised at what he saw—there was a long drop that would've been completely vacant if it weren't for a multitude of springs spiraled all the way down to the exit. He homing attacked the nearest spring and was bounced in circles until he reached the exit… and then hit another set of springs that bounced him up to a higher platform.

Landing and skating forward, he noticed an older apartment building close to the road: a non-boxy design with a green roof and fancy curtains in every window. Of course, they were all pulled shut even though every light was on. _The public must not have been informed of how powerful I really am— or even what I really am. They're probably just still under curfew. Hm. This government really __**doesn't **__give a thought for its people, does it?_

He turned to his left, saw a line of floating robots ahead, and homing attacked each in turn to travel over another gap.

ooo

Meanwhile, the orb dipped and spiraled around the planes coming at her. She was getting used to taking part in a battle, which both dismayed and relieved her. _War is a terrible thing, and I wish I didn't have to experience it again. But if the world will be saved, I must get us out of here somehow._

She also noticed something quite odd as she passed by the flying weapons—named Volkan fighters based on the text on their sides—the humans using them weren't looking at her. They were looking at one of the many small points of more concentrated Chaos Energy in their tools of war that probably enhanced their deadliness.

_And somehow, they're still able to follow me. How? _She tried to figure out an explanation. _Perhaps… they can sense me like I sense them? But their Potential is not very high… _

Then she realized: _It's their weapons! The weapons are harnessing their Energy to track mine!_

After that, things got worse, because suddenly the pursuers began shooting small and concentrated Energy bursts. One grazed her and she got alarmed. _That almost hurt! This is getting very dangerous… I hope that Shadow is okay._

ooo

A few bombed and collapsing sections of road later, the being in question used another rocket to land high above a toll booth. He almost stuck the landing but hesitated at the edge of the booth's cover once he sensed something a bit unusual. The embarrassing (if anyone he cared about had been around to see it) flailing to keep his balance that ensued saved his life—a second later a Chaos Energy infused bomb detonated in a controlled explosion right in the space where he would have been.

_Hm. Pulling out the more advanced weaponry now, are we?_ he thought, keeping calm.

The hedgehog resumed blazing down the highway, this time rolling through two successive loop-de-loops on his way to the next large bridge and a well-placed construction ramp. He did a few flips off of that and then grabbed a road sign display pole to swing around it and launch himself up to the second level of the bridge.

Here the jets had temporarily pulled away (likely readying themselves for a mass bombing run) and his glowing partner-of-sorts was descending from the sky while dodging generic laser blasts from a ground robot. A simple spindash took care of the enemy before he jumped and swung himself from another pole, the orb following after him.

Shadow flew again, high over the unfinished bridge—a chasm loomed below him with no surface to land on except the floating construction cylinders he was aiming for. Once he landed on one, he jumped up to the highest floater and surveyed his path to safety. Meanwhile, an unusually warm and heavy draft blew up from the bay below. _Seems like they broke some major pipe systems down there with all the bombing._

The glow caught up with him as he readied himself to homing attack the nearest floating robot—which she'd already observed was unsafe to attack. "Wait!" she warned. "That robot can—"

"I don't need your help." The black-and-red anthromorph waved her off, jumped and homing attacked the robot—

He was immediately electrocuted. Temporarily stunned, he fell towards the water. However, the updraft caught him, blowing him up and then down and then up and then down.

Even when he regained movement, he was still unable to effectively travel. He'd have to use his skates to propel him across the gap, but the strong gusts would still toss him this way and that; what he needed was someone to… give him directions, he reluctantly admitted.

Fortunately, his sort-of-partner zoomed down to him, instantly asking, "Are you alright?" Even after his callous treatment of her, it was still concerned… only two other beings he'd ever known had shown him the same kindness.

It was perhaps because of this that he began to respect it—or her?—more. "Yes!" he yelled over the buffeting wind. "And it looks like I need your help after all!" Succinctness was probably best in this scenario.

"Ah! I see!" She was definitely surprised by the sudden change in attitude, but she was far more relieved that he wasn't hurt. "What do you need?"

"My hoverskates will be able to move me, but I'll need to know which direction to go in! That's where you can assist me! Guide me around these obstacles!"

"I will!"

ooo

After dodging robots, bombs, and construction cylinders (which he was able to roll through with her help), Shadow finally landed on the other side of the bridge. The orb floated ahead but immediately fled back to where he stood contemplating another robot-destroying homing attack chain.

"Beware the Vulkan fighter!" she announced. "Its cannons are very powerful!" (At least that's what she assumed those weapons were called based on the words she'd read on the sides of the fighters.)

_Antiquated language, but, _he focused his senses ahead and felt Chaos Energy charging up, _a valuable warning nonetheless. _He jumped up to the left and took an alternate route.

More robots along the way, but given the current layout of their path speed was far more preferable. So they dodged instead of engaging, reached a tunnel (where Shadow flipped off another ramp before immediately somersaulting under a construction cylinder), dashed down more declines, sprung off more springs, etc etc etc.

But something that caught the hedgehog's eye (the other one focused on the surveillance blimps; one with an advertisement for rings) as he banked on a curve (they were now in the middle of the city) was a hotel they were passing. On its spire rotated the purple head of a fictional character that Maria would often tell him stories about… _At least they still remember that._

The peace was interrupted once the orb realized where they were going. "Are we headed to their main camp?" On getting a nod from her fellow escapee, "Why!?" she asked incredulously.

"Just trust me for now," he responded. "Something likely very valuable to both of us is in there. The closer we get, the closer we are to escape."

She was very unsure about that. However, she had no choice but to hope that Shadow knew exactly what he was doing. "Alright."

The time came when they got to the final stretch before the central base of one of the two great powers of the world. Shadow was moving so fast that he didn't see it until they were very close: the entrance to the hangar was a giant corkscrew of road. It was nothing like he'd ever seen, but as long as he maintained speed, he would get through it.

But for his companion… "Cut straight through the loops like you've been doing! And don't stop until you reach the hangar!"

"…Okay!" _Here goes._

The airplanes all gathered on their position, including the last of them that'd launched directly from the hangar. Gunfire and bombs went everywhere, but Shadow continued spiraling faster and faster and the light sped straight as much as she could, and then…

They FINALLY made it. The glow zipped right into the empty hangar, looked behind her, and shouted, "Watch out!" as a robot landed right into Shadow's path.

He rolled and with a "Heh-haah!" somersaulted into the enemy, blowing it apart. After twisting himself back upright he skated in, braked to a stop, and crossed his arms right past a very stunned orb.

The hedgehog caught his breath; as he did so he began to sense exactly where his object of interest was. Noticing this, the light calmed down and became more aware of her surroundings. She suddenly felt a blaze of energy that came from an unmistakable source.

"That's right," Shadow said as he noticed her energy reaction.

"We're going to obtain a Chaos Emerald."


	9. Remember Me? MFM

A/N: Pocket dimensions are a concept that've been around for at least a few decades, so if my and Tails' explanation still doesn't make sense, feel free to look up the wiki article or TV Tropes page.

ooo

"A pocket dimension is basically a dimension that exists within another dimension," Tails began.

Sonic initially seemed to get it, but just wound up getting more confused and scratched his head. "Wait… how does that even work?"

"Hmm… think of it this way!" The boy anthromorph reached into a nearby jar and pulled out one of the marbles they'd often played with when they were younger. Holding it out to Sonic while hitting a few keys with his other hand, he continued, "Imagine that this marble is an entire universe. Everything in that universe is contained in this little sphere."

"But then what about everything else?" Sonic asked. "I mean, our universe would still exist too if that marble was its own universe… right?"

"Exactly!" Tails exclaimed, pulling it back and returning to his work. "The marble universe exists _within _our own universe. In other words, it's like it's something being in someone's pocket. And that's how it works!"

On seeing the dawning understanding in his older friends' faces, the yellow fox added, "Some theorists also believe that's where we anthromorphs keep our rings and stuff," gesturing to Amy, "like the Piko Piko Hammer."

"Oh!" Amy exclaimed. She pulled her weapon out and turned it this way and that. "I never really thought about the science behind that before..."

"Yeah," the oldest of the three chimed in, "we just put our rings and stuff in the place everybody puts them. You're saying that's some sorta mini-universe too?"

Tails nodded with enthusiasm.

His adoptive older brother plopped down on his faded, blue, and burst-open-at-the-seams seat. The hedgehog held his head. "Man… what a day."

"Wow. Auntie must be really smart to know about that," Amy reflected.

Sonic and Tails immediately looked at her curiously. "Who?" they both asked simultaneously.

ooo

Remember Me? -M.F.M.-

ooo

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Security breach at Gate 3! Intruder has been located in the north quadrant and is moving in the direction of the underground base."

Steel security doors began slamming down and locking themselves one by one.

"All units prepare to engage. Emergency battle formations! Standard battle procedures initiated—"

Suddenly, one of the doors was blown back and exploded in fire.

"Locate and stop the intruder from entering the security area!"

The attacker in question walked through the dissipating flames.

"This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill—"

Then a bolt of Chaos Energy destroyed the loudspeaker. More Chaos Spears eliminated the incoming threats—soldiers woefully underarmed with ordinary weapons, though there were a few with the Chaos-enhanced bullets.

_Excellent. We've moved fast enough that most of their forces are still deployed. By the time we get to the Emerald, it'll be too late for them to do anything significant, _he thought, then threw back his head and laughed. "Hahahaha! That was all too easy!"

Ahead was a long hall full of shut doors. He walked forward preparing for more destruction, but looked down and saw another door he had been about to walk right over. Getting rid of that, he jumped down to the next floor.

ooo

"Auntie's the girl who helped me get my arm healed," Amy explained, and then started the rest of her story.

The hedgehog had been teleported to the pocket dimension called Chao World that she'd already told her two friends about. There was a strange room called the Chao Lobby that looked like it was in space, and a beautiful Chao Garden too! (With lots of adorable Chao!) Auntie was a very nice girl, probably a spirit since she didn't have a solid form, that'd shown her around and even helped her to get back to Amy's own world! She had the pink hedgehog stick her wound in the Garden's pool, and that was when things got really weird.

"My arm healed all the way up, but I also got this really weird feeling. It was all cool and tingly, and it made me think of home, and running," she turned to Sonic, "and y—"

"Wait, you felt that too!?" Sonic cut in at the last second (in an attempt to keep the conversation from going places he didn't think he could handle at the moment), "The same thing happened when Shadow gave me the Chaos Emerald!"

Amy's mouth closed momentarily in surprise and some indignation. _Oh, he didn't let me finish! …Well, _she reasoned,_ I guess now really isn't the time to talk about this. I've gotta focus on the mission at hand!_

"Really?" she asked. "I wonder what those two things have to do with each other…"

"It might be Chaos Energy," Tails suggested. "Speaking of which, everything should be ready to go now!"

"All right, sweet!" the blue hedgehog said. "What've you got in store for us?"

"You'll see… or won't see, maybe. Everybody buckle up and get ready!"

Amy immediately sat down and did so; Sonic also complied, but with an eyeroll. He was never one for safety regulations.

ooo

Shadow landed the way he usually did: one foot back and one foot forward in a kneeling position. He picked himself up and skated down the hall, taking out enemies with Chaos Spears, somersaults, and homing attacks as the situation demanded.

Meanwhile, the orb was examining the nearest security door that had shut as she waited for her companion to catch up. There was a distinct sound of four clicks right after it had closed. _Hmm… _

She saw four flashing panels over the spots the sounds had emanated from. A closer look highlighted the words next to each of them: "Emergency Lock." _Perhaps these are what are keeping the door in place? So it's lock-ed?_

A second after that Shadow turned the corner and glided towards her over the grey floor with strange dull-colored vines under it. "This door is locked in four places," she concluded. "Target the locks and the door should open." _I hope this works._

"Got it." He threw a Chaos Spear at each lock, blasting the door off its hinges. A smirk appeared. "All right. Anything more challenging ahead?"

There were indeed challenges—unexpected ones. Sure, the robots were easy to destroy, but after the highway it seemed very cramped in the base. Shadow was back in familiar territory, but the light felt shut in more than she ever had before.

That combined with her lack of battle experience put her many times at peril of getting hit, either by enemy _or_ friendly fire.

"Ahh!" she cried as a Chaos Spear grazed her on its way to destroy another robot.

The black hedgehog's eyebrows raised in alarm. "What the—"

"Oh no, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. And then: "Ah… don't worry. It doesn't hurt much."

"…Be careful," he admonished before putting his game face back on and proceeding. Then a sudden thought occurred. "Try to stay behind me. You'll be in less danger there."

"I see, and I shall."

_Wait, why am I…? Well, I still haven't seen the extent of her skills. I need to know everything she's capable of so I can see how she'll fit into the plan, _Shadow reasoned, _And I suppose she __**is **__my partner right now, too._

ooo

Meanwhile, the red lights kept flashing, the sirens kept blaring, and some female voice kept clamoring about levels being breached and security measures being raised. Of course, it didn't matter; Shadow mowed everything down anyway.

It was on a lower level (the orb wasn't particularly keeping track) when she began spotting little creatures roaming around. "Did you know that there are 15 small animals hidden in this base?" she asked her companion. "At least that's the number I've seen so far."

_Small animals? Are they experimenting with them? _the hedgehog wondered. Back aboard the ARK many would roam around freely (and Maria had loved taking care of them).

He'd also heard stories about the early days of alternate power source research where the more unethical scientists would look into harnessing the life energy of these creatures to power their machines… was the GUN trying to do that here? But why do that when they were already using Chaos Drives to power their machines (which he had also been using in conjunction with rings to heal his injuries).

_Dammit! It's like everything's gone forwards and backwards at the same time! _He snarled in frustration as he finished off an enemy with a somersault. But when he looked over to his side, he saw one of the creatures themselves cowering in a corner and hurt. It was a little purple dragon with horns, and one of its green wings was punctured with debris from the destroyed robot.

Shadow and the orb paused. The hedgehog got back up to a kneeling position and pondered it. Then he extended a hand.

"…I'm sorry," he said to the dragon.

The voice blared again with more idiocy about security breaches. The striped anthromorph felt like melting the loudspeaker, but held back for fear of scaring the animal.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he continued. But then the dragon limped forward and nuzzled his finger. Both he and the light were surprised.

_Shadow must have something about him that animal likes, _the orb realized. She'd had nagging doubts before, but… _That means despite all this battle lust I've seen, some part of him __**is **__good._ She smiled. _I'm so glad._

"Come on," he said, thinking of what Maria would say, "we've got to get you safe and healed up." The creature complied and hobbled into Shadow's outstretched hand. The hedgehog put him away in that pocket space where he'd be safe and then rose to his feet.

"Thank you," his partner told him.

"It's not a big deal," he mumbled. Then in a louder voice: "We have to keep moving."

ooo

Another descent through more levels later, the two arrived at the last hallway to the final obstacle; the Chaos Emerald was just beyond that large, imposing gate. Shadow almost blasted down the hallway but braked immediately once he saw numerous gates begin slamming down one by one towards him.

Once the last one closed, the light examined it. _Something's different about this one… it's resisting my Chaos Energy. Perhaps a __**missile**__, __if I'm remembering what that is correctly. Could one of those break it?_

"Your Chaos Spears aren't going to work on these. Find the missile that can destroy them!" she announced.

"Alright." Her hedgehog partner backtracked to a platform that lifted him up to an overhang. As luck would have it, there was a missile ready to launch right in front of him. _Un_fortunately, it was pointed the wrong way.

But really, this was a simple problem to fix, as the (now abandoned) computer station that aimed the missile was right next to it. The anthromorph reprogrammed it to face the direction it needed to go; all that was left now was to activate it.

_If only this damn computer script running would authorize what I want to do… Wait a minute. _His eyes narrowed and his lips smirked right before a Chaos Spear obliterated the monitor, sending the trigger back to manual control. There was only one thing left to do—fire it.

The missile slammed through all the doors in the hallway, crumpling and then detonating the lot of them. Shadow nodded at the orb and they both zoomed down the path, dashpads increasing their speed.

At the end of it they were spat out into a room with the (to the orb) intimidatingly giant gate. By contrast, her partner was completely unfazed; once he landed on the floor, he laughed.

"That wasn't so hard… Now, to get through this last obstacle."

Shadow strode towards the electronic lock on the door.


	10. GUN Mobile

The striped hedgehog went about hacking the lock on the final Level 7 security gate. Meanwhile, his literal partner-in-crime nervously kept an eye on their surroundings.

Scanning the area, she noticed something she'd never seen before: a large blue box. When she approached it, she saw an image on its side—_Wait, is that the head of a Chao?_

When she focused, she could sense Chaos Energy coming from it. _How strange! This is probably something we should investigate. _"Um—"

The beeping of the electronically picked lock and the grating of the opening gate interrupted her. Shadow nonchalantly (despite the still-whining sirens) skated into the next room, so she followed him and left the strange container behind.

It was a very large vault; the farther they traveled into it, the softer the blaring became. They finally reached another console and the anthromorph went to work again.

Time was of the essence, but fortunately he knew everything he needed. The privileges of the username he was using needed to be reinstated but that wasn't incredibly troubling. Once he was able to start actually logging in, he knew the password would never have changed—Maria.

Immediately the gears began to shift, startling the orb. A large box (made of the same material that seemed to have replaced rock in this era) lowered from the ceiling. When it was exactly three-quarters of the way down to the floor it stopped.

She started for it to see how she could open it; after all, there was no way Shadow could fly, right? But then, as he had many times already, he surprised her.

The black anthromorph used his hoverskates to levitate off the floor up to the safe, balancing them with one hand while reaching out for the keypad lock on the door with the other. It was when he input the proper password _again _that trouble came in the form of blaring sirens and an approaching engine.

He flung open the door and grasped the blue Chaos Emerald. _Hm. So they set a trap for anyone who used his login information that doesn't activate until the Chaos Emerald container lowers. _He inwardly chuckled._ That might be the first truly clever thing I've seen them pull off all day._

"Oh no!" his companion exclaimed. "More enemies are coming!"

Shadow levitated higher and turned to face her. "Don't waste your time worrying. Behold, the true power that I possess!"

The anthromorph grasped the Emerald tighter and flashes circled around him—_he's warping using the energy from the Chaos Emerald! _the light realized. _I can't believe it, but this is—this is what the legends talked about! This is Chaos Control!_

_But I can't sit by and not help… wait! _She quickly flew to him. _If the Master Emerald's power transported me here, that means I might have used Chaos Control too! So maybe if I latch onto his Potential like I have earlier, I can follow him faster!_

The flashes grew momentarily blinding before blinking away, leaving neither the hedgehog nor the orb behind.

ooo

"3… 2… 1… And we're outta sight!"

A (surprisingly palpable to the two hedgehogs) veil of Chaos Energy swept over _Command._

_It feels like when I was using Chaos Control… and the atmosphere of that island. _"Whoa… Tails, what did you do?" Sonic asked.

"It's a cloaking device," his adoptive brother beamed. "Now we're invisible to anyone looking for us."

"Wow!" Amy exclaimed.

"So if the Chaos Emeralds have unlimited power…" the other hedgehog pondered, "then we should be able to stay invisible as long as we need to," slamming his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Awesome job, man!"

"Thanks!" With his spirits buoyed, the fox turned to the controls. "Now we're ready for takeoff."

He counted down: "3... 2… 1… Go!" The airship wobbled up off the ground, turned, and headed in the direction of the coast. There lay its destination of South Island.

ooo

The two partners jumped out of the warp on the other side of the room. Another grey paneled floor with wooden storage crates scattered around greeted them—this was a vault, after all.

And before them landed…

ooo

-GUN- Mobile

ooo

…yet another combat mech. It was similar to the one the striped hedgehog had faced with Sonic earlier that night, but more heavily armored.

Intimidated by this large robot (_is that the correct word?_) but still determined to help, the light made a risky and quick flight towards the machine. The first thing she saw was yet another human operating it; the second thing she saw was the writing painted on its outside.

"This weapon is named the B-3x Hot Shot!" she proclaimed as she zoomed back to Shadow. "It's a… Heavy Armored Combat Walker?"

The hedgehog himself was a bit annoyed at this, as he could've figured out the important parts on his own. _She's been a valuable help, but still… I can handle this again._ _She'll be a liability to both of us if she's taking unnecessary risks._

"Like I've told you before, don't trouble yourself," he said. "I am familiar with this type of weapon; it's something I've handled before _without _a Chaos Emerald." _Speaking of which, I should put this away in the pocket space to keep it safe. _He did so.

"But still—"

"No buts." The hedgehog readied a fighting stance as the walker took off. He smirked, feeling confident. "Just observe."

The battle was indeed an easy retread for Shadow, especially since that other hedgehog hadn't gotten all the crates destroyed before he began this time. It was just a matter of using their height to homing attack the machine mid-flight.

His foe landed for the final time right after its last laser blast (which Shadow avoided with ease) and fired all its remaining missiles (which he also dodged without issues). Once its ammo was depleted the walker began stamping its feet in the liftoff preparations—it was too heavy to get off the ground right away.

This was the perfect moment, so he jumped in a ball and struck the cockpit at just the right angle to destroy the controls. The missile launchers and engines simultaneously sparked and then ignited; the machine's legs then buckled and its main body fell to the ground.

He braked to a stop and crossed his arms. "Hmph. Pathetic human." Then the cockpit of the machine opened and the pilot scrambled to get out. But something about that person looked familiar…

_Wait! _The hedgehog's eyes widened. _This man… he looks like one of __**them. **__The men that killed Maria!_

Shadow opted not to use his skates for the pursuit—he didn't need them for this. He walked towards his target and bared his teeth. The pilot had some years (and promotions) on him now, but he was definitely one of the same soldiers.

"Remember me?" the Ultimate Lifeform asked. The soldier looked at him in terror. "No… of course you do," he continued. "But do you remember _her? _The innocent girl?"

"Shadow…" the light silently trailed off in sad shock.

His voice getting angrier now: "The one you killed who did _nothing _to you? Nothing bad to _anyone? _The one who died simply for the sake of your mission?"

The soldier's face suddenly hardened from fear to resolve. "Our mission was to better the world: to usher in a new era of unity and peace—a weapon of the dark ages has no place here now!"

A snarl turned into a ferocious grin. "Your mission failed. And the dead of the past shall be avenged!"

_NO! He's just like Chaos! _the orb realized. _All that rage and hate, born of a bloodbath. With two powerful and angry souls like this, how will the world survive!?_

…_I must save this world somehow! But… what can I do? I couldn't stop Chaos by myself, let alone another just like him…_

_Wait. I wasn't able to calm Chaos because I didn't have much time after his rage took hold—but with Shadow, the situation is different. He has an inner kindness as well, and there's still time. I__** can **__save him from his anger, and then everything else can be saved! It could be a long shot, but…_

The "weapon" himself summoned a Chaos Spear. "Now _DISSAP—"_

"Shadow, STOP!" she cried.

He halted with widened eyes and snapped his head around to look at his partner (he'd forgotten about her while he'd been carrying out his vengeance). While seriously pissed off at her interference, he suddenly realized—

"How do you know my—"

But he was cut off as the soldier, in his last act, pulled out his gun and fired into Shadow's chest. The hedgehog reflexively released the Chaos Spear that impaled him in turn, ending his life.

"Ghh!" The anthromorph clutched at his chest as he staggered backwards, dropping his rings but barely holding onto the Chaos Emerald and the dragon.

The light rushed over to him. "Oh my gods! No, no, no!"

"Gods dammit…" he replied over the once again blaring sirens. "Take care of it." He gave her the dragon, but kept the Emerald.

"I don't want you to die because of me!" she exclaimed. Their small friend yelped repeatedly in alarm.

"I'm not." At that he ruefully smiled. "I suggest you don't watch if you're faint of heart."

Once he reached in his bullet wound the dragon immediately covered his eyes while the orb stayed silent and shocked. She had seen blood before, but to see someone put their fingers in their own body to remove an arrow point (or whatever was fired from that weapon) was nothing she'd experienced before.

Shadow found the bullet and pulled it out, dropping it on the ground before he made his next move. He always healed quickly, but he'd need to tap into more Chaos Energy so he could heal faster. Once again, time was of the essence if they wanted to escape.

He grasped the Chaos Emerald tighter, and all three of them could feel the energy being drawn from it into the hedgehog's body. The dragon slowly uncovered his eyes and the lighted orb was relieved once both of them saw Shadow's wound completely healing up.

He slowly stood to his feet and scooped the dragon back into the pocket space.

"I-I'm sorry, I need to explain myself; my name is—" she began.

"Again, there's no time for introductions," he cut in, both warily curious about who she was and how she knew who _he _was but also very aware that there were definitely incoming reinforcements. "They can come later. Now," he extended a hand, "we're going to use Chaos Control to leave. From the way you stayed with me coming to this part of the vault, it's obvious that you have this ability as well."

"Y-yes, I believe so."

"Perfect. Then we can combine our powers to warp where we need to go. Let me focus on the location," he ordered. "And—"

"I'll focus on channeling the energy from the Chaos Emerald and through the both of us so we can go farther," she interrupted.

_Hmm, so that's what it feels like. _"Exactly. So on the word "Go," we'll begin."

His partner almost nodded but realized that it wouldn't show. So she settled for giving a "Yes."

"3… 2… 1… Go."

Streaks of light surrounded the two as they began warping. Shadow clearly envisioned where he wanted to go in his mind—the rooms in space, the large windows offering a view of the blue earth below… and then:

"Chaos Control!"


	11. Chaotic Vision

A/N: I'm BAAAaaaackkk! :D

With some important news: this is the PENULTIMATE (second-to-last) chapter of _Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound_. The idea behind this is that-

-I can work on this in increments,

-People can read this in increments,

-As my writing gets better the increments will get less painful to read (xD) and

-All of the above will make this a more manageable experience.

So I know this is kind of a short chapter, but I felt like I HAD to put something up after making you guys wait so long. Also, this chapter is kinda thematically different than the next one, so I figured the flow of events would be less awkward this way.

As always, I hope everyone enjoys.

ooo

It was as soon as _Command _cleared the last of the mountains and sailed over the small coastal plain that things began to get complicated.

Inside, its machines behaved erratically: readings started fluctuating wildly and the engine itself began to sputter.

"Tails!" Sonic unbuckled his seatbelt and lunged to the front. "What's going on?"

"It's…" he examined his instruments closely, "our power supply! It's increasing exponentially!"

ooo

Chaotic Vision

ooo

Sonic may not have known much about metaphysics, but he knew how airplanes and airships worked well enough. "Which one is it coming from?" the male hedgehog asked. "We've got the gasoline on one hand, and on the other… the Chaos Emerald!" he realized, and whipped around to see the jewel now glowing with greater and greater intensity. "Tails, shut off the cloaking device now!"

By this time Amy had hopped out of her chair too. "Sonic, no! They'll be able to see us then!"

"Would you rather run that risk or crash?" the blue hedgehog snapped back at her.

Amy cringed as he turned back to their younger brother, whose computer was now fried.

"The system's locked up!" the fox exclaimed. "I can't do anything more!"

"Then it's time to take matters into our own hands… literally!" Sonic then forced open the door to the Emerald's compartment and ripped it away from the wires attached.

Then that speeding feeling that was almost like blowing wind whirled through and overwhelmed him.

ooo

He fell back, trailing blue light into a black nothing. Green bolts the color of the Emerald flashed around him.

"You don't want it to end here, do you?"

"What?" Sonic said as everything turned white.

"You have a reason for living," the voice responded. It was a female's, a girl's. Calm and measured.

"…Who are you?"

"You must live," she continued, but more urgently. Now things darkened to grey, and the hedgehog saw two spheres with a green light glowing in between them.

That light spawned seven new lights circling around it, becoming their own colors. Green, blue, gold, silver, teal, purple, red. It was almost like he was looking at… _the Master Emerald surrounded by… what? Are those supposed to be the Chaos Emeralds?_

"Exactly."

Sonic's eyes widened. She was reading his thoughts! And the sound of her voice… it sounded like how Shadow had talked to him when he'd learned Chaos Control!

"With your Potential," she said, "you will see things others cannot. You will feel things others cannot. And you will do things others cannot."

Golden lightning then sparked around him as he floated, the Emeralds brightening until their colors blended and everything turned white again.

Ruins and a night sky, and then a garden. A girl (_the _girl?) sat on a hill in the middle, cloaked in blue. She turned her face towards him, but under the hood all he could see was the side of her mouth.

With a wistful smile but a more hopeful voice, she said: "And so the old myth begins anew."

ooo

"Sonic!"

His lungs suddenly filled with air and his eyes snapped open. Once he refocused his gaze as he breathed heavily, he saw Amy kneeling over him, her face close to his and her wide green eyes beginning to tear up again.

She was once again very, very relieved that Sonic was alive. "Are you okay!? You fell over, and you didn't breathe for a minute!"

"Wha?" he said once his breathing had calmed down. "What in the world…" He still held the green Emerald tightly.

"Sonic?" She then noticed he was blushing a bit, and added to her relief was a bit of excitement. _Is he blushing because I'm so close to him?_

"Amy, uh…"

"Yes?" She got more excited. After all this, was he going to say—

"Could you move? I need to get up." A sheepish look.

"Oh! Sorry." She straightened and grew disappointed. _Darn! But at least he's okay, and that's what's __**really **__important._

The blue hedgehog pushed himself up and got to his feet. "It's okay." Then after further consideration: "I'm the one who should apologize anyway. I snapped at you earlier, didn't I?"

"Oh!" Amy was startled. "Yes... but it's okay now. Thanks for apologizing." A genuine small smile broke on her face and she gave a quick wink. "It's accepted."

"Heh," Sonic smirked back before swaying a bit. The hedgehog was a little unsteady on his feet, but that wasn't a big deal; right now there was another matter that was far more urgent.

He looked to Tails who was still working feverishly in the cockpit. "Tails, I'm alright!" he informed his brother. "How's everything now?"

"Thank goodness, Sonic!" the young anthromorph exclaimed. "Most of our stuff is more manageable now, but I've had to switch a lot of it to manual control."

"Phew! Good job."

"But I need to get the fuel meter recalibrated," Tails added. "Otherwise we're not going to know how long the engine will still be able to run."

"And do you know if anybody's found us?" Amy asked.

"Fortunately, the radio's still working, so we'll be able to check!" The fox retuned the radio to hone in on any GUN transmissions close to them. It spewed out fading static until they were finally able to hear a human voice:

"Copy that. Squadron is honing in on the source of the energy spike."


	12. Let's Make It!

As Angel Island neared the ocean's surface, Rouge's emergency training kicked in. The Emerald shrine was located at a point where the ocean could be seen—which was very fortunate for both the bat and the echidna.

"When the island is about to hit the water, jump up and glide!" she barked at Knuckles, who nodded.

Right before the impact they both did as she said and watched the island fall beneath them and impact the ocean's surface. Then they slowly glided down to the ground.

"Phew! That was something," the red anthromorph remarked. "Thanks for the advi—"

When he looked around, the bat had already slunk away.

"…Why does she always do this?"

Suddenly, his sixth sense rang. Knuckles whirled about looking for the source of this mysterious burst he'd felt, but as he focused he discovered that it had come from somewhere far away—and lasted only for a minute.

"Was that the Master Emerald? No, the pieces are too small to give off that sort of energy," he mused. "Perhaps… a Chaos Emerald?"

ooo

Let's Make It!

ooo

"They're onto us!" Amy panicked, stating the obvious.

"Tails, hit the gas!" Sonic ordered.

The engine began sputtering once the fox did so. At the same time, the fuel meter began working again—and read a gas tank that was running close to empty.

"Oh no!" Tails exclaimed, "When we lost control of the ship, we used up most of our remaining fuel!"

"Shit!" the blue hedgehog swore as he looked out one of the portholes near the rear. GUN planes were heading in fast.

"The engine can still be wired for another power source," his younger brother said, "but I don't know if we've got anything besides the gas that'll work!"

"And we can't use this." Sonic looked at the jewel in his hand. "It'll just fry things even more."

"If only we could tap into the energy that Emerald contains without getting too much to fry the system…"

"Wait!" Amy piped up excitedly, "I have an idea!"

ooo

The white bat got into the cockpit of her heart-shaped magenta-and-white airplane. While the obvious choice would be to search the island for shards immediately, she knew that was exactly what the echidna would do—and she was thinking more globally (literally) than him.

Better to get a head start on everywhere else while he wasted time crawling around Angel Island. Besides, the pieces had zoomed off in all directions, hadn't they?

First, of course, she had to weather out the storm which had come back in full force. So she hunkered down in her ship, which had fortunately been tightly anchored to the ground and had fallen at the same speed as the rest of Angel Island. As such, it had survived the descent without any significant damage.

So she turned on her satellite radio and tuned into the GUN channel she normally used. Might as well let her sometime clients know what she'd just witnessed…

ooo

The pink hedgehog laid out the capsules she'd collected over the course of the raid in front of her two friends. They floated and spun slowly in all their individual colors, and now felt like little points of energy to Amy and Sonic's sixth sense.

"These were probably powering the robots," she explained. "When I was in Chao World, a Chao touched them and it started running right after. Maybe it got a bunch of energy from it?"

Tails grabbed one of them, turning it this way and that. "But if a Chao could draw energy from this, then why can't we do the same by ourselves? But… hmm…"

"Are you thinking this could be something new to power the engine?" Sonic asked his younger brother.

"…Yeah! If my suspicions are correct and these are at least partly made up of Chaos Energy, then I think I'll be able to wire these to power the engine! But I'll need some time to set this up, though, especially since most of our apparatus got fried…"

"All right!" Amy pumped her fist. _All that collecting __**was **__useful! There, Sonic!_

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Good work, you two! Now…" he narrowed his eyes and smirked, "it's time to get you guys the time you need."

With that he tossed the green Chaos Emerald onto one of the chairs and flung open the door of the airship. This sucked some of the cold wind into the ship, the rest blowing by the slowing aircraft.

"Sonic! What are you doing?" Amy shouted after him. The GUN planes were now much closer—something needed to be done, fast!

"I'm gonna take some of those planes down," he replied.

"No!"

Sonic looked at his pink comrade with a bit of confusion.

"I already almost lost you twice today," she continued. "I'm not letting you go a third time!" She advanced on the older hedgehog, while Tails concentrated on his work, unable to look up.

He held up his hand. "Amy."

"What?"

Her face was growing sad, and Sonic didn't like it. He needed to go deal with the planes, but… he couldn't just leave without giving her _some _sort of reassurance. He didn't want to see her sad again.

"I _promise _I'm going to come back to you guys, okay? Pinky swear," he said on impulse and then presented his pinky.

Another smile broke out on Amy's face as she locked pinkies with him. "Pinky swear!"

He pulled his arm away and grinned with a wink, "Just watch me. All those planes are gonna be gone in under a minute!"

_He's so handsome when he says stuff like that! _Amy got hearts in her eyes. "Oh, Sonic…"

He rolled his eyes. "Be back in a flash."

ooo

High above all this floated a desolate rocky sphere. Nobody and nothing had lived on it or in it for decades. But now…

Two beings flashed into one of its rooms, one solid and the other not. The former collapsed to the floor, exhausted from the use of so much energy, and dropped the blue Chaos Emerald he had been holding.

The other was a spirit who appeared as a pink ball of light. She too wearily sagged downwards before turning to her companion who was slowly picking himself back up.

Both of them had combined most of their remaining power in order to make a last, _huge _effort of Chaos Control to get away. It certainly felt like they had traveled far, and farther than she'd ever traveled in her entire lifetime at that.

The black hedgehog, now back on one knee, placed the small purple dragon on the floor. It took much of his concentration to remove the shrapnel, but he was finally successful and more blood began to seep out of the wing. The dragon whimpered and tried to tend to its wing by licking at it.

"Keep that wing closed and hold it tight," Shadow instructed. "That way the blood will eventually clot up and it won't be coming out as fast." The animal nodded and then did as he said.

The anthromorph got up and walked over to the room's computer console.

"…Are we safe?" the orb asked. If he was leaving the animal in the open for that long, and if they'd really traveled that far, then had they finally escaped?

"…Yes," Shadow answered wearily. The Earth below him was just as beautiful of a sight as it had been when he'd looked at it with Maria, but he didn't have the time or… resources… to look and remember at the moment. Now was the time to figure out what exactly was going on.

For instance, it would be nice to understand exactly what time of the day, month, year, decade, and possibly century it really was.

Once it ascertained that the dragon was going to be all right, the light looked around her new environment and was once again amazed by it.

They were in another grey room, with more contraptions like she'd seen in the base they'd come from. But the astounding thing was what she could see looking outside.

It looked like the settlement she'd seen earlier; there were little dots of white scattered in the blackness. But she knew well enough to tell the difference between that and a night sky full of stars, which this clearly was.

The sky surrounded them—up and down and all around… and there was something even larger and more arresting looming over it all.

ooo

Sonic swung himself up to the top of _Command _and faced down the planes swooping in. Someway, somehow, he was able to sense little points of energy in each of them. Was this part of the power that Shadow'd talked about? Were those points from the same things that Amy had been picking up? Either way: "Heh… _now _it's time to get serious."

Suddenly he jumped and homing attacked the first plane that swooped by. Then he attacked one after the other, going in a chain, until the planes were flying in circles of confusion.

Flipping over in the air, the hedgehog quickly regarded the positions of his enemies before he started the second chain. _Another light homing attack on each plane and that should just about do it. All of their systems'll be scrambled enough by then that they'll either pull out or eject. _

He'd split-secondly but carefully planned this out: nobody else was going to lose their lives tonight if he could help it.

ooo

Before her was a giant blue ball covered in swirling wisps of white and solid masses that gradually changed from green to brown to green again. It was bigger than anything she'd ever seen, let alone anything that could fit in a sky. It was an awesome sight. "…What is this?"

"Your name?"

"Oh!" The orb started and then turned to Shadow.

"We have time for introductions now," he said briskly, not facing her or the window, from the computer chair he was sitting in. "I would introduce myself, but it seems you already know my name."

The computer had booted up and he was still sorting through the login protocols—GUN had of course locked down all the computers on the ARK, but compared to the more modern programs he'd encountered on the surface, getting past these was a cakewalk.

But it would still take time to get through everything. Now that he had some breathing room, he could find out the exact nature of this being. "So," he continued. "Yours?"

_And finally, the time has come. _"My name is Tikal," she began. "I am…"

_But what should I say I am? If I tell him my story, and if he is truly like Chaos… then he may __**agree **__with Chaos and help him destroy the world!_

_So… it has come to this, then. I must lie._

"I am from another time and another place," she continued. "I do not know where I am, what era I am in, and how I have come to be in this time and space."

"But you do know my name," Shadow countered. "Why is this?" The computer finally let him in, and the default screen began loading up…

_There's no way to lie about this. This is one thing I can tell the truth about. _"I know you from a vision."

The hedgehog cocked an eyebrow. Some of the legends he knew of had spoken about those with Chaos Potential that could see visions. The question was… "What was this vision of? What did you see? The past? The present? Or the future?"

"I do not know," which was only a half-lie on Tikal's part. "For I do not know when I am."

Shadow almost snorted. Such an obvious dodge. Well, he'd humor her as soon as he found out the answer both of them were seeking, although it was taking unusually long to display the clock. However, for some reason he had access to radio feeds from all across the planet first.

He immediately took advantage of this and locked on to the GUN's general military broadcast frequency around Capital City. It was possible to get into the more private feeds, but that came with risks he didn't feel like taking right now.

But the clock still wasn't up, and that was getting troubling. That probably meant it was still recalibrating. Sure, it had to work around some of the locks that he hadn't cleared out yet, but just how long had passed?

"Hm. We're both going to find that out soon." As soon as he uttered that, the date popped up. It floored both of them.

ooo

Meanwhile, Sonic landed back onto _Command_. As soon as she heard the thump, Amy reopened the door.

"Sonic, Tails has the engine ready to go!"

"Awesome!" The blue hedgehog looked back at the disoriented planes. "Heh. Nothing like a good technological ass-whooping. Now then," he swung back down into the airship; Amy slammed the door shut behind him. "Let's see what these things can do! Hit it!"

Tails, now back at his seat in the cockpit, did so and the ship immediately rocketed forward faster than he anticipated. Sonic and Amy were flung backwards along with the green Chaos Emerald—Amy snatched it with one hand and Sonic grabbed her free hand as he latched onto her sturdier and more neatly kept chair with his other.

While he quickly brought the thrust under control, the fox darted his eyes back towards his friends. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah… maybe I shouldn't have told you to step on the pedal," Sonic said as the two hedgehogs stumbled forward, but then looked out one of the windows to see the planes sorted out and headed their way once again. "Or maybe I should've! Enemies incoming, let's speed up!"

Tails sighed and then nodded. "Okay then, guys! Get in your seats and buckle up!"

His friends both did so (Sonic with less reluctance this time around). _Command _sped up, but the planes accelerated too. It looked like they were going to be overtaken despite Sonic's first strategy, but then…

"Hey, Sonic!" Amy exclaimed as she looked out the nearest window, "The planes are turning back!"

"What!?" the anthromorph in question exclaimed.

"Wait… I think I know why!" Tails chimed in. "Listen to this!" He turned up the radio.

ooo

There had been a lot of static due to the storm, but now that it had mostly cleared up Rouge was able to get a clearer signal. What she heard, however, was another eyebrow-raising addition to an already wild day.

"Attention all forces in the Capital City area!"

ooo

"Withdraw to the main headquarters at once!"

"Wha?" Amy wondered. "What happened?"

ooo

"There was a major breach in the base's defenses, and an important casualty has been confirmed. Repeat…"

Snapped out of his shock, Shadow slammed his fist on the console and grinned. _Could it be? I did it! __**I did it! **__Who knew that bastard would become the current—now former, _he noted with a terrible gleam in his eye, _military commander of the GUN? Who else could cause such a massive retreat? And I killed him! And I avenged __**them!**_

He entered a sort of pre-cackling state. _I can do this. I can destroy the GUN. And then I can destroy the __**world—**_

"What… what does all this mean?" Tikal asked in terror as she unknowingly snapped Shadow back to the here and now.

And then it was all clear. "It means many things…" he said with a false calm.

"But the most important thing right now… is that they don't know where we are. And they're not going to look for us for a very long time. Which means…"

"We can do whatever we want now." And he began to plot.

ooo

_Well, _Rouge thought. _It's likely that they're going to need my tracking skills very soon._

She input the usual coordinates into her navigation system and clapped her hands together. "I may fall behind in the race against that echidna, but I'm about to hit it rich even more!"

ooo

_Why is this happening? Wait… is this because of Shadow? _Sonic's eyes widened. _Did Shadow survive after all? But was he the one who killed that "important casualty?" And why?_

Lots of questions jumbled around in Sonic's head, and it was hard to sort them out. But he now knew with a growing certainty that—

"Shadow's still alive."

"What?" Amy asked. "Why do you say that?"

"Heh, I fought beside that guy. Nobody else could cause that much trouble smack in the middle of GUN territory." He winked, clearly in higher spirits after his aerial stunts and this revelation.

"Hmm… and who knows?" Tails added with new optimism, "Maybe he can really help us later on!"

Amy smiled. "I'm glad. I'm so glad that everyone made it out okay!"

Sonic looked at her.

ooo

The wheels were turning. And even besides the shattering of the Master Emerald, there was something bigger going on. Knuckles could feel it.

"It's my fault that the pieces got scattered. I'll have to travel far and wide to recover all of them. But everything happens with a purpose. I don't know how things are going to turn out… but I'm going to carry out my duty no matter what!"

ooo

"And we'll all make it through, Amy. I'll prove it to you."

ooo

A/N: And DONE! I'm done with the first installment!

First off, I want to thank everyone who's been reading, as it makes me happy to entertain. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, too, because it lets me know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.

I also want to thank the creators of this whole franchise and everyone else who's contributed to it. I'm looking forward to whatever good things the future brings for Sonic the Hedgehog!

In the meantime, you guys can read _Chaos Chao and Good Wishes_. It crosses over, although you don't have to read both to get the full picture. ;)

Stay tuned for more pieces of the story.


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